Virginia Tech Shooting Profile
Virginia Tech massacre
Students gather to mourn after the shooting.
Location Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
Date Monday, April 16, 2007 7:15 a.m. and 9:41 a.m.–9:51 a.m. (EDT)
Attack type School shooting, mass murder, murder-suicide, massacre
Weapon(s) Glock 19, Walther P22
Deaths 33 (including the perpetrator)
Injured 23
Perpetrator(s) Seung-Hui Cho
Virginia Tech massacre
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Timeline
Victims
Perpetrator
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The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting comprising two separate attacks about two hours apart on April 16, 2007, on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. The perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many more, Cho, a South Korean who had moved to the United States at age eight, was a senior English major at Virginia Tech. Cho had been diagnosed with and was treated for a severe anxiety disorder in middle school, and he continued receiving therapy and special education support until his junior year of high school. While in college in 2005, Cho had been accused of stalking two female students and was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice. At least one professor had asked him to seek counseling. The incident received international media coverage and drew criticism of U.S. laws and culture from commentators around the world. It sparked intense debate about gun violence, gun laws, gaps in the U.S. system for treating mental health issues, the perpetrator's state of mind, the responsibility of college administrations, privacy laws, journalism ethics, and other issues. Television news organizations that aired portions of the killer's multimedia manifesto were criticized by victims' families, Virginia law enforcement officials, and the American Psychiatric Association. The incident prompted immediate changes in Virginia law that had allowed Cho, an individual adjudicated as mentally unsound, to purchase handguns. It also led to passage of the first major federal gun control measure in more than 13 years, a law that strengthens the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, signed by President George W. Bush on January 5, 2008. The Virginia Tech Review Panel, a state-appointed body assigned to review the incident, criticized Virginia Tech administrators for failing to take action that might have reduced the number of casualties. The panel's report also reviewed gun laws and pointed out gaps in mental health care as well as misinterpretations of privacy laws that left Cho's deteriorating condition in college untreated.
Contents
1 Attacks
1.1 West Ambler Johnston shootings 1.2 Norris Hall shootings 1.3 Victims 1.4 Resistance 1.5 Perpetrator
2 Responses to the incidents
2.1 University response 2.2 Student response 2.3 Campus memorial 2.4 Government response 2.5 South Korean response 2.6 Media response 2.7 Other responses 2.8 Gun politics debate
2.8.1 Background 2.8.2 Political response
4 References 5 External links
Attacks
Main article: Virginia Tech massacre timeline
Cho used two firearms during the attacks: a .22-caliber Walther P22 semi-automatic handgun and a 9 mm semi-automatic Glock 19 handgun. The shootings occurred in separate incidents, with the first at West Ambler Johnston Hall and the second at Norris Hall.
West Ambler Johnston shootings Cho was seen near the entrance to West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-ed residence hall that houses 894 students, at about 7 a.m. EDT. Cho shot his first victims around 7:15 a.m. in West Ambler Johnston Hall. A freshman, Emily J. Hilscher, aged 19, of Woodville, Rappahannock County, Virginia, and a male resident adviser, Ryan C. Clark, a senior, aged 22, of Martinez, Columbia County, Georgia, were shot and killed in the room Hilscher shared with another student.
Norris Hall shootings About two hours after the initial shootings, Cho entered Norris Hall, which houses the Engineering Science and Mechanics program among others, and chained the three main entrance doors shut. He placed a note on at least one of the chained doors, claiming that attempts to open the door would cause a bomb to explode. Shortly before the shooting began, a faculty member found the note and took it to the building's third floor, so as to notify the school's administration. Concurrently, however, Cho had gone to the second floor and began shooting students and faculty; the bomb threat was never called in.
Aerial photo showing location of Norris and West Ambler Johnston Halls
Before Cho began shooting, several student eyewitnesses said he poked his head into a few classrooms. Erin Sheehan, an eyewitness and survivor who had been in Room 207, told reporters that the shooter "peeked in twice" earlier in the lesson and that "it was strange that someone at this point in the semester would be lost, looking for a class". Police took nearly five minutes to gain entry to the barricaded building. When they could not break the chains, an officer shot out a deadbolt lock leading into a laboratory; they then moved to a nearby stairwell.
Elementary French class students take cover in Holden Hall Room 212.
Virginia Tech student Jamal Albarghouti used his mobile phone to capture video footage of a part of the attack from the exterior of Norris Hall; this was later broadcast on many news outlets. Student Nikolas Macko described to BBC News his experience at the center of the shootings. In the aftermath, high winds related to the April 2007 nor'easter prevented emergency medical services from using helicopters for evacuation of the injured.
Victims
Main article: List of victims of the Virginia Tech massacre
During the two attacks, the shooter killed five faculty members and 27 students and wounded many more. Eleven students died in an intermediate French language class in Norris Room 211. Nine students died in an advanced hydrology class in Room 206. Four students died in an elementary German language class in Room 207. One student died in a solid mechanics class in Room 204.
Resistance Several people tried to help others during the attack, including:
Professor Liviu Librescu held the door of his classroom, Room 204, shut while Cho attempted to enter it. Librescu was able to prevent the shooter from entering the classroom until most of his students escaped through the windows, but he died after being shot multiple times through the door. One student in his classroom died. Jocelyne Couture-Nowak tried to save the students in her French classroom, Room 211, after looking Cho in the eye in the hallway. Student Henry Lee was also killed while trying to help Professor Couture-Nowak barricade the door. In Room 206, the movements of a wounded Waleed Shaalan distracted Cho from a nearby student after the shooter had returned to the room, according to a student eyewitness. Shaalan was shot a second time and died. Also in Room 206, Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan may have protected fellow student Guillermo Colman by diving on top of him; Student Zach Petkewicz barricaded the door of Room 205 with a large table after substitute professor Haiyan Cheng and an unidentified female student in the same class saw Cho heading toward them. Cho shot several times through the door but failed to force his way in. No one in that classroom was wounded or killed. Katelyn Carney, Derek O'Dell, Trey Perkins, and Erin Sheehan barricaded the door of Room 207, the German class, after the first attack and tended to the wounded. Cho returned minutes later but O'Dell and Carney prevented him from re-entering the room. Both were injured.
Hearing the commotion on the floor below, Professor Kevin Granata brought 20 students from a nearby classroom into an office, where the door could be locked, on the third floor of Norris Hall. He then went downstairs to investigate and was shot by Cho. Granata died from his injuries. None of the students locked in Granata's office were injured.
Perpetrator
One of the photographs of Seung-Hui Cho sent to NBC News on the day of the massacre
Main article: Seung-Hui Cho
The shooter was identified as 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, a South Korean citizen with U.S. permanent resident status living in Virginia. An undergraduate at Virginia Tech, Cho lived in Harper Hall, a dormitory west of West Ambler Johnston Hall. The Virginia Tech review panel's August 2007 report devoted more than 30 pages to Cho's troubled history. The Virginia Tech review panel detailed numerous incidents of aberrant behavior beginning in Cho's junior year of college that should have served as warning signals of his deteriorating mental condition. Several former professors of Cho reported that his writing as well as his classroom behavior was disturbing, and he was encouraged to seek counseling. The Virginia Tech review panel report faulted university officials for failing to share information that would have shed light on the seriousness of Cho's problems, citing misinterpretations of federal privacy laws. Cho's underlying psychological diagnosis at the time of the shootings remains a matter of speculation. Media outlets routinely compared Cho's motives and mental state to those of the Columbine killers; however, it remains unclear whether Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's motives and mental states were similar to Cho's. Early reports had suggested that the killing resulted from a domestic dispute between the killer and his supposed former girlfriend Emily Hilscher, whose friends said she had no prior relationship with Cho. In fact, there is no evidence that Cho had ever met or talked with Hilscher.
Responses to the incidents
University response
Before their 2007 football opener, the Hokies release 32 balloons as a part of a ceremony commemorating the victims.
The university first informed students via e-mail at 9:26 a.m., more than two hours after the first shooting, which was thought at the time to be isolated and domestic in nature. Virginia Tech canceled classes for the rest of the week, closed Norris Hall for the remainder of the semester, and held an assembly and candlelight vigil on April 17. Shortly following the events of April 16, the Virginia Tech Foundation, in conjunction with Hokies United, formed the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund (HSMF) to help remember and honor the victims. The fund is used to cover expenses including, but not limited to: assistance to victims and their families, grief counseling, memorials, communications expenses, and comfort expenses. In early June, the university announced it would begin reoccupying Norris Hall in mid-June. The building is to be used for offices and laboratories for the Engineering Science and Mechanics and Civil and Environmental Engineering departments, its primary occupants before the shootings. The building is to be completely renovated over time, and it will no longer contain classrooms. Following a board meeting on July 3, Les Saltzberg of New River Valley Community Services, a mental health agency that had a role in the treatment of Cho, resigned his position as executive director. Agency officials state that the resignation is unrelated to the April 16 incident. After the release of the Virginia Tech review panel report, some parents of those slain called for Virginia's governor to relieve Virginia Tech's president and campus police chief of their positions. However, Governor Kaine rejected the notion, saying that the school officials had "suffered enough".
Student response
Virginia Tech students mourn the victims at a candlelight vigil.
After becoming aware of the incident, students communicated with their family and peers about their conditions, using telephones and social networking services; Tech students of South Korean descent initially feared they would be targeted for retribution. Despite the timing of the shootings, as prospective students were replying to offers of admission from colleges and universities, Virginia Tech exceeded its recruiting goal of 5,000 students for the class of 2011.
Campus memorial
Permanent memorial on Virginia Tech's drillfield
In the hours and days following the shooting, makeshift memorials to those killed or injured began appearing in several locations on the campus. Many people placed flowers and items of remembrance at the base of the Drillfield observation podium in front of Burruss Hall. Later, members of Hokies United placed 32 pieces of Hokie Stone, each labeled with the name of a victim, in a semicircle in front of the Drillfield viewing stand. This initial memorial was replaced by an interim memorial constructed over the summer on the same site and dedicated just before the start of the fall semester. Following the shootings, members of the Virginia Tech community wondered whether Norris Hall, the site of the shooting, would be reopened, transformed into a memorial, or torn down.
Government response
President George W. Bush with Virginia Tech Student Government Association President James Tyger after his speech at the school's convocation
President Bush and his wife Laura attended the convocation at Virginia Tech the day after the shootings. Governor Kaine later created an eight-member panel, including former U.S. homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, to review all aspects of the Virginia Tech massacre, from Cho's medical history to the school's widely criticized delay in warning students of danger and locking down the campus after the bodies of Cho's first two victims were discovered. The panel made more than 70 preventative recommendations, directed to colleges, universities, mental health providers, law enforcement officials, emergency service providers, law makers and other public officials in Virginia and elsewhere. The incident also caused Virginia Commonwealth elected officials to re-examine gaps between federal and state gun purchase laws. Within two weeks, Governor Kaine had issued an executive order designed to close those gaps (see Gun Politics, below). Also prompted by the incident, the federal government passed the most significant gun control law in over a decade.
South Korean response When the citizenship of the shooter became known, South Koreans expressed shock and a sense of public shame,
Media response
Main article: Media coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre
The incident generated extensive coverage worldwide and sparked intense debate for several days over the state of mind of the perpetrator, American gun control, and journalism ethics. Editorial response in international newspapers of record was widely critical of U.S. gun laws and gun culture. also predicted little chance of tougher gun laws or changes to the U.S. gun culture. The incident also affected creative media. For example, the Fox Network TV show Bones postponed airing an episode that involved a death at a university, as the network's executives felt that it would have been in bad taste to air the episode.
Other responses
Penn State students pay tribute to the fallen Hokies at the Nittany Lions spring football game.
Hundreds of other colleges and universities from throughout North America responded to the incident with official condolences and by conducting their own vigils, memorial services, and gestures of support. Some of Cho's family members expressed sympathy for the victims' families and described his history of mental and behavioral problems. Cho's maternal grandfather was quoted in The Daily Mirror referring to Cho as a person who deserved to die with the victims. Many heads of state and international figures offered condolences and sympathy, Queen Elizabeth II, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Sporting teams and leagues at both the college and professional levels, as well as sports figures from football, baseball, hockey, soccer, and NASCAR racing, paid their respects and joined fundraising efforts to honor the victims. On July 30, 2007, after it came to light that Seung-Hui Cho had purchased on eBay two 10-round magazines for one of the guns used in the shootings, the online auctioneer prohibited the sale of firearms magazines, firearms parts, and ammunition components on its site.
Gun politics debate
The massacre reignited the gun politics debate in the United States, with proponents of gun control legislation arguing that guns are too accessible, citing that Cho, a mentally unsound individual, was able to purchase two semi-automatic pistols.
Background Law enforcement officials have described finding a purchase receipt for at least one of the guns used in the assault. The sale of firearms to permanent residents in Virginia is legal as long as the buyer shows proof of residency. The shootings also renewed debate surrounding Virginia Tech's firearms ban. The university has a general ban on possession or storage of firearms on campus by employees, students, and volunteers, or any visitor or other third parties, even if they are state-licensed concealed weapons permit holders. In 2006, prior to the shootings, legislator Todd Gilbert had introduced a related bill into the Virginia House of Delegates. The bill, HB 1572 was intended to forbid public universities in Virginia from preventing students from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun on campus. In August 2007, the Virginia Tech review panel report recommended that the state's General Assembly adopt legislation "establishing the right of every institution of higher education to regulate the possession of firearms on campus if it so desires" and went on to recommend campus gun bans, "unless mandated by law".
Political response The response to how gun law affected the massacre was divided. The White House issued a statement saying "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed". Some government officials in other countries joined in the criticism of U.S. gun laws and policies. Responding to the Virginia Tech incident, Texas Gov. Rick Perry proposed that licensed gun owners be allowed to carry their weapons anywhere in Texas.
List of school related attacks
References
^ a b Bowman, Robert. "Panel receives details, roadblock", Collegiate Times, 2007-05-21. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Virginia Tech massacre
Wikinews has news related to:
33 dead, 15 injured in Virginia Tech shootings Virginia Tech shooter identified, witness reports emerge Virginia Tech gunman sent package to NBC
Complete coverage of the shootings and their aftermath in the Chronicle of Higher Education Timeline of legislative and executive events that unfolded before and after 04.16.07., including chronological review of Campus Security policies and legislative counterparts. Flash video compilation of all currently available clips from Cho's manifesto video package sent to NBC Streaming video of the convocation ceremony on April 17, 2007—HokieSports.com April 16 Archive (Digital Archive project based at Virginia Tech) Virginia Tech Review Panel
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Virginia Tech massacre
Coordinates: 37°13′46″N, 80°25′23″W
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