# Shooting at Virginia Tech **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338 "2007-04-16T15:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/261 "2007-04-17T16:39:18Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] **Paul** , [here’s](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17victims.html?hp) a description of how at least one of the notifications was made. Just breaks your heart. [/QUOTE] There was a line in \*The Closer \* about this…“You’re about to become the main character of his worst day ever.” I don’t know how doctors do it. Talk about emotionally draining. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/262 "2007-04-17T16:44:36Z")
Something is confusing me in [this article](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18148802/?GT1=9246) from [MSN.com](http://MSN.com): > [@](#): > > Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information had not been officially announced, said Cho’s fingerprints were found on the two guns used in the shootings. The serial numbers had been filed off, the officials said. > > A law enforcement official said Cho was carrying a backpack that contained receipts for the purchase of a Glock 9mm pistol in March. Huh? I thought that missing serial numbers was a sure sign that a gun had been purchased illegally. It isn’t legal to sell a gun in that condition, is it? Cho could have done it himself, but why? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/263 "2007-04-17T16:51:36Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] Something is confusing me in [this article](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18148802/?GT1=9246) from [MSN.com](http://MSN.com): Huh? I thought that missing serial numbers was a sure sign that a gun had been purchased illegally. It isn’t legal to sell a gun in that condition, is it? Cho could have done it himself, but why? [/QUOTE] Pure WAG, but maybe he just didn’t want the guns traced to him. Maybe at some point he had some wacky idea that didn’t include killing himself at thhe end. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/264 "2007-04-17T16:55:39Z")
There is evidence that he returned to his dorm room after the first shooting, penned a rather disturbing note, re-armed himself, and went hunting. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the note railed against “rich kids, debauchery and deceitful charlatans” on campus. [Cite.](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266500,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/265 "2007-04-17T16:58:35Z")
He was an English major, and apparently his creative writing assignments concerned his teacher so much she [referred him to the counseling office.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070417/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting_150) Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/266 "2007-04-17T16:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] According to the article on [CNN.com](http://CNN.com), the shooter was a legal immigrant who came over with his parents in 1992, so they shouldn’t need to go through an embassy. Still, it has to awful for the family of the perpetrator of something like this. They lost their son too, and won’t get as much sympathy. [/QUOTE] I remember seeing an interview with the parents of the Columbine High School shooters where they stated “Everybody forgets that we lost our sons too. Nobody seems to think we deserve any sympathy.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/267 "2007-04-17T17:05:58Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] There is evidence that he returned to his dorm room after the first shooting, penned a rather disturbing note, re-armed himself, and went hunting. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the note railed against “rich kids, debauchery and deceitful charlatans” on campus. [/QUOTE] Sounds like a deeply hurt child. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/268 "2007-04-17T17:07:08Z")
One of the people killed was a professor who was up a Holocaust survivor. He blocked the door so the kids could jump out the window. [http://www.claremont.org/blogs/blogid.5193/blog\_detail.asp](http://www.claremont.org/blogs/blogid.5193/blog_detail.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/269 "2007-04-17T17:14:09Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] One of the people killed was a professor who was up a Holocaust survivor. He blocked the door so the kids could jump out the window. [http://www.claremont.org/blogs/blogid.5193/blog\_detail.asp](http://www.claremont.org/blogs/blogid.5193/blog_detail.asp) [/QUOTE] When I saw that I gasped. How horrible to make it through the Holocaust as a child (he was born c. 1932) only to die at the hands of a different madman, and on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day no less. Losing him is even more terrible because of that, in my mind. It makes me wonder, Lord - what \*\*is \*\* Your plan?? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/270 "2007-04-17T17:26:47Z")
There’s going to be more punches in the gut as the victims are identified and their stories come out. That’s what changes them from faceless numbers to real people, with lives and loves and family. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/271 "2007-04-17T17:31:44Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] There is evidence that he returned to his dorm room after the first shooting, penned a rather disturbing note, re-armed himself, and went hunting. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the note railed against “rich kids, debauchery and deceitful charlatans” on campus. [Cite.](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266500,00.html) [/QUOTE] That Fox News cite is some irresponsible journalism: _Federal law enforcement sources confirmed to FOX News that the address for Cho is **XXXXXXXXXX** _ in Centreville, Va\* Gee, I don’t see how it could _possibly_ end badly to list an exact address for what appears to be a single family home that more than likely still houses the shooter’s relatives. No chance at all of retribution (petty or violent) against the family. Nope. Totally safe and reasonable. Fuckwit reporter. \*I’m not going to spread the address any more than I have to. Listing it in full is just downright stupid. Edit: Looking at the address on Google Earth, it’s a fairly new garage townhome. No way a college student would own that. It’s surely the home of the parents or some extended family. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/272 "2007-04-17T17:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=Only Mostly Dead] Edit: Looking at the address on Google Earth, it’s a fairly new garage townhome. No way a college student would own that. It’s surely the home of the parents or some extended family. [/QUOTE] Jesus Christ. Assuming this kid lived there in high school, he went to high school with my nephew - would have been a year or two ahead of him. And his parents (I would assume that’s his parents’ house - those townhomes typically run in the $400K ballpark) live less than a mile from my family. E. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/273 "2007-04-17T18:07:47Z")
> [@linked FoxNews article](#): > > The Chicago Tribune reported that […] Cho died with the words “Ismail Ax” in red ink on the inside of one of his arms. I wonder if this is a play on the Bob Marley song _Small Axe?_ > [@](#): > > Why boasteth thyself > Oh, evil men > Playing smart > And not being clever? > I said, you’re working iniquity > To achieve vanity > But the goodness of Jah > Endureth forever > > So if you are a big tree > I am a small axe > Ready to cut you down > To cut you down Seems to fit a bit, and what with him being an English major (and psychotic) he might have had a thing for word-play. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/274 "2007-04-17T18:47:54Z")
[QUOTE=Only Mostly Dead] It’s surely the home of the parents or some extended family. [/QUOTE] Police removed the family from the home last night. AP reports: _“He was very quiet, always by himself,” Abdul Shash, a neighbor, said of Mr. Cho, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Shash said Mr. Cho spent a lot of his free time playing basketball, and wouldn’t respond if someone greeted him._ Another AP report interviewing a VT classmate is even stranger: _“Classmates said that on the first day of an introduction to British literature class last year, the 30 or so English students went around and introduced themselves. When it was Cho’s turn, he didn’t speak. The professor looked at the sign-in sheet and, where everyone else had written their names, Cho had written a question mark. “Is your name, `Question mark?”‘ classmate Julie Poole recalled the professor asking. The young man offered little response. Cho spent much of that class sitting in the back of the room, wearing a hat and seldom participating. In a small department, Cho distinguished himself for being anonymous. “He didn’t real out to anyone. He never talked,” Poole said. “We just really knew him as the question mark kid,” Poole said.”_ ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/275 "2007-04-17T18:52:41Z")
Has there been any indication as to why he picked the Engineering department? I don’t know why, but I was surprised to hear he was an English major. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/276 "2007-04-17T18:55:04Z")
I’m beginning to wonder what psychological “safeguards” are going to be devised so that we can be “protected” from these loners, and how many of us will be affected just because we had a bad day once or our thought-patterns don’t conform to the “norm.” Mark my words, the gooders in this country are going to make psych tests mandatory before too long. He was probably tired of all the Engineering students getting all the chicks. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/277 "2007-04-17T18:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] I remember seeing an interview with the parents of the Columbine High School shooters where they stated “Everybody forgets that we lost our sons too. Nobody seems to think we deserve any sympathy.” [/QUOTE] I think it would be many times as hard to be the parents of the shooters (not that you can quantify things like that) - not only did you lose your child as well as getting very little sympathy for your loss, but any normal person would have massive guilt at their child’s actions, too, along with self-recrimination of “What did I do wrong? Did I spank too much? Didn’t I spank _enough_?” ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/278 "2007-04-17T19:10:26Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] Has there been any indication as to why he picked the Engineering department? I don’t know why, but I was surprised to hear he was an English major. [/QUOTE] English departments almost never get their own buildings. Here at U. No. Colo. our English department is actually housed in Ross Hall, which is known as the math-science building. Norris is known as the engineering building at VT, but English classes are held there, too. In fact, one student who was killed was attending a French class. Cho had probably taken plenty of English classes in Norris Hall, and that’s where he went to exact his twisted revenge. That’s if you want to assign any non-random reason to the whole thing. Otherwise, he just randomly picked a classroom building, which is also possible. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/279 "2007-04-17T19:17:15Z")
Ismail Yk is a turkish band. Ismail is possibly also the person Abraham wanted to sacrifice. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338/280 "2007-04-17T19:20:42Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] Has there been any indication as to why he picked the Engineering department? I don’t know why, but I was surprised to hear he was an English major. [/QUOTE] I don’t want to come off as morbid, but isn’t there generally a bit of, I don’t know…animosity maybe?..between engineering and liberal arts? The first thing I thought of when I heard it was engineering (mainly) under attack was, “Well, I bet he’s LA”. Since he appears to have held a grudge against certain groups, maybe he hated those “engineering eggheads” or something (total speculation, feel free to ignore the whole post). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-at-virginia-tech/400338.md?page=15)