As 2005 came to a close, Cho’s family was in the
dark about their son’s deteriorating mental health. The troubled student’s
parents had consistently and persistently monitored their son’s health. As they
had taken actions to help him in the past, there is no reason to believe they
would not have done the same again had they been told of the seriousness of the
problem. The Governor’s Review Panel asked Cho’s parents what they would have
done had they been informed of their son’s behavior. They responded, “We would
have taken him home and made him miss a semester to have this looked at … but
we just did not know … about anything being wrong.”
* *
*
Cho was thus left to fend for himself. His parents
knew nothing and those who did—for large part—kept it to themselves. Cho
continued to descend into his non-communicative, paranoid world.
More
Warning Signs
The
problems continued in 2006 and more red flags went up, this time in Robert
Hicok’s Fiction Workshop. The violent content of Cho’s stories, combined with
his lack of communication, again raised concerns. Hicok consulted with
Professor Roy about the problems he saw, but in the end decided to keep Cho in
the class.
Hicok
was not the only one to have problems with Cho that semester. Cho was also
enrolled in Professor Carl Bean’s Technical Writing course. Bean later told the
Review Panel that Cho was always quiet, wore his hat down over his head and
spoke softly. Bean also suggested that Cho got pleasure from learning how to
“play the game—do as little as he needed to do to get by.”
For
one assignment in Hicok’s class, Cho decided to write an objective real-time
experience based on Macbeth and corresponding to serial killings. On April 17, 2006—one
year to the day before Cho’s murderous rage—Hicok talked with Cho after class,
telling him the proposed subject was not acceptable. Hicok suggested that Cho
drop the class. Cho, however, followed Hicok to his office and began arguing
loudly that he did not want to drop the course. Hicok told him to leave and
said he would not talk to Cho again until he was more composed. Cho later sent
an email to Hicok saying he had dropped the class.
In
the fall of 2006, Cho enrolled in Professor Ed Falco’s playwriting workshop.
The opening day of class, when the students were asked to introduce themselves,
Cho got up and left before it was his turn. When Cho appeared for the second
class, he was told he would have to participate—he did not respond. After the massacre,
students from Falco’s class were quoted in the press as saying Cho “was the
kind of guy who might go on a rampage killing.”
The
warning signs, then, continued apace. Cho’s roommate told the Review Panel that
he barely knew him. They slept in the same room, but apparently hardly ever
talked. The Resident Advisor in Harper Hall, where Cho lived, knew there were
issues with Cho. She knew of his unwanted advances toward a female student, but
she did not have any problems with him.
Cho
also enrolled in Professor Lisa Norris’s Advanced Fiction Workshop. Norris knew
Cho, he had taken one of her courses on contemporary fiction. When he showed up
wearing a ball cap pulled down over his face and making no eye contact, Norris
was concerned and contacted the dean’s office. According to the Review Panel
Report, she wanted to know if he was ok and asked for someone to intervene on
his behalf. We do not know what “intervene” means and the Review Panel Report
does not explain the word.
What
we know is that the English Department knew nothing about Cho’s dealings with
the police, nor did they know anything about his stalking behavior.
Unequivocally, they should have been told.
Norris
told Cho he would have to see her if he was to make it through the class.
Norris believed that Cho had trouble communicating in both English and Korean
and offered to help him get in touch with the Disability Services Office. After
the meeting, Norris emailed Cho to repeat her offer to go with him to student
counseling—he did not follow up on the offer.
Cho
apparently finished the class with few problems, although he did not show up
for the last two weeks and ended up with a B+ for the semester.
The
spring semester of 2007, Cho continued to sink deeper and deeper into his word
of isolation and darkness. He began to buy guns and ammunition. In February he
bought a .22 caliber Walther P22 handgun online and a handgun from J-N-D
Pawnbrokers in Blacksburg. In March he bought a 9 mm Glock 19 handgun and a box
of 50 9mm full metal jacket practice rounds at Roanoke Firearms. Also in March,
Cho bought two 10-round magazines for the Walther P22 on eBay. Later that month
he purchased three additional 10-round magazines from another eBay seller.
And
finally, on March 31st he bought additional ammunition magazines,
ammunition, and a hunting knife from Wal-Mart and Dick’s Sporting Goods. He
bought the chains he used on Norris Hall’s doors from Home Depot. There were,
however, apparently no outward signs of the depths of his mental illness. And even
if there had been, I believe it is highly improbable the school would have
taken effective measures, given its track record. (To be continued)
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