VIRGINIA TECH
In my last posting I pointed to the warning signs ignored in
the shooting at the Appalachian School of Law, now let’s look at the case of
Virginia Tech.
Seung Hui Cho, who murdered 32 and wounded another 17 at
Virginia Tech, harassed female students in person, over the phone, and via the
Internet. He may have been frustrated because his advances toward females were
rejected. Just days before his rampage, he went to Roanoke and hired a
prostitute.
Just as in the case of the Appalachian School of Law, the
killer’s repeated warning signs were ignored.
Cho could have done little more to warn of his pending
massacre than to put a neon sign announcing his intentions. Here are Cho’s
warning signs:
1)
October 15, 2005 Virginia Tech English Professor
Nikki Giovanni wrote the head of the English department to report Cho’s
threatening classroom behavior. Giovanni wanted Cho removed from her class
because she was concerned for her safety and the safety of her students. If the
school did not remove him, she threatened to resign.
2)
In April 2006, Cho’s technical writing
professor, Carl Bean, suggested Cho drop his class. A heated argument ensued.
During the spring of 2006, Cho’s creative writing professor, Bob Hicok,
expressed concern because Cho’s writing was remarkable for violence.
3)
In the fall of 2006, Cho enrolled in a
playwriting workshop taught by Professor Ed Falco. Cho wrote a play about a
young man who hates the students at his school and planned to kill them and
himself. The play was a blueprint for what happened.
4)
In September 2006, Professor Lisa Norris,
another of Cho’s writing professors, alerted Associate Dean Mary Ann Lewis to
Cho’s aberrant behavior. Professor
Norris urged Cho to seek counseling.
5)
Cho’s harassment of women was well documented.
On November 27, 2005, a female student complained about “annoying” Internet,
phone, and in person contacts from Seung Hui Cho. Later that month, on the
30th, a second female student complained about Internet harassment from Cho.
6)
A few days later, on December 6th,
Cho continued his harassing ways and on the 6th, a third female
student complained about unwanted, harassing messages and “disturbing” contacts
from Seung Hui Cho. She filed a complaint and the school’s police took action.
7)
The Virginia Tech police notified Cho that he
was to have no further contact with the female student. A despondent Cho sent
his suitemates an email saying, “I might as well kill myself now.”
8)
On December 13, 2005, after being interviewed by
the police regarding the complaints against him, Seung Hui Cho sent emails to
his dorm suitemates talking of suicide. They were alarmed and called the
police. A screener at the police station evaluated him as “an imminent danger
to himself and others.” A magistrate issued a temporary detaining order and he
was sent to Carilion St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital for mental evaluation.
9)
Less than 24 hours after being ordered to the
mental health facility, Seung Hui Cho, on December 14, 2005, was released from
the Psychiatric Hospital after the staff psychiatrist, without extensive
testing or gathering collateral information, ruled he was not a danger to himself
or others. The hospital recommended Cho receive outpatient counseling.
Cho returned to Virginia Tech where he slipped under the
radar until April 16, 2007, when he slaughtered 32 students and faculty and
wounded another 17. (To be continued)
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