33 Dead After Virginia Tech University Shooting

[hitlesswonder]

The harsh reality is, you can't expect an advanced system. Atleast on large campuses such as UIUC. There's the dark side here of cost effectiveness.

 

I think money is pretty tight at public universities. UIUC now receives only around 25 percent of its funding from the State of Illinois (it was over 50 percent about 20 years ago). As you said, I doubt we'll see large capital investments to prevent a relatively rare event. I liked the idea of something like a tornado warning siren to at least warn people to stay where they are. That's financially doable and seems potentially useful. Of course, you'd have to have drills and tests, otherwise people won't know what the siren means....

[Flash Tizzle]

These are exactly the type of incidents which may you wonder whether terrorists are watching. In the upcoming weeks and months we'll witness school after school overreacting to little events. People will be uptight at schools all across the nation. It doesn't take a high body count such as 9/11 to frighten this country.

 

It's acts of violence such as these which anyone with a gun can do. You don't need to plan four years in advance or require training at a flight school. That's what scares the s*** out of me. If it's not a school, it can be a park -- or a grocery store.

Edited April 16, 2007 by Flash Tizzle

[Milkman delivers]

I understand that everyone is going to be extremely concerned with this happening, but this type of thing is so rare that you shouldn't change the way you act/feel about your security or be wary of keeping your doors unlocked/holding the door for someone.

 

I'm not trying to sound like a jagoff, but I'll be going to bed tonight with the door unlocked as always. And I'll walk to class tomorrow and right into the building without hesitation. You can't let something like this change the way you live your life.

[Soxy]

Absolutely terrifying. I have no idea what I would do if this happened while I was teaching. So scary. I feel so bad for those poor students and professors.

[Flash Tizzle]

I understand that everyone is going to be extremely concerned with this happening, but this type of thing is so rare that you shouldn't change the way you act/feel about your security or be wary of keeping your doors unlocked/holding the door for someone.

 

I'm not trying to sound like a jagoff, but I'll be going to bed tonight with the door unlocked as always. And I'll walk to class tomorrow and right into the building without hesitation. You can't let something like this change the way you live your life.

Oh, I agree.

 

Even though I understand there are millions of college students currently attending classes, and such a minute percentage die from shootings, it just completely rattles you.

 

You begin to wonder what if it occurred at your college. What would I do?

 

When I was in 8th grade and Columbine occured I was very apprehensive over attending high school the following year. Even though my parents told me what I said the previous paragraph, you still can't be wonder "what if." Who among your classmates could be planning an attack?

[Rowand44]

I understand that everyone is going to be extremely concerned with this happening, but this type of thing is so rare that you shouldn't change the way you act/feel about your security or be wary of keeping your doors unlocked/holding the door for someone.

 

I'm not trying to sound like a jagoff, but I'll be going to bed tonight with the door unlocked as always. And I'll walk to class tomorrow and right into the building without hesitation. You can't let something like this change the way you live your life.

Agreed. Anytime this stuff happens it's obviously extremely sad but I wont let it change how I live my life, ever. Maybe that's just me being stubborn but that's how I feel.

[witesoxfan]

There's a difference between keeping the same life style and not changing daily activities and being apprehensive with a horrible feeling in your gut and the worst "What if?" scenario you could ever imagine.

 

I'm going to eat dinner in the same place tonight, go to sleep tonight, lock the door like I always do, wake up, go to class, come back, go to parties, go to events, etc, etc. It doesn't change the fact that there is a natural, instinctual worry that lingers just because of that what if.

[Heads22]

I'm not worried. Although, I would say, I have a knife that I would keep on my person just in case if such an event started to occur. That's mainly for myself though.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

I'm not trying to sound like a jagoff, but I'll be going to bed tonight with the door unlocked as always.

 

Would that be ur dorm room?

 

I wouldn't even leave my room door unlocked when renting an apartment with good friends just to avoid any problems.

[Balta1701]

There's a difference between keeping the same life style and not changing daily activities and being apprehensive with a horrible feeling in your gut and the worst "What if?" scenario you could ever imagine.

 

I'm going to eat dinner in the same place tonight, go to sleep tonight, lock the door like I always do, wake up, go to class, come back, go to parties, go to events, etc, etc. It doesn't change the fact that there is a natural, instinctual worry that lingers just because of that what if.

I think that is the correct way to handle these things. At some level...yes, virtually anything is possible. But you can only spend so much effort on preventing the worst case scenario. There are 26000 students at Virginia Tech alone, millions across the country. Indiana, where I was an UG, had about 40k, with probably 50-100 buildings. It's quite literally in a city, as are many. I'm in a city of 600,000 right now. It's virtually impossible to stop something like this from actually happening. You can't put a metal detector on every potential entrance of every single building in the world. You can take reasonable measures, like ID-keycards at doors especially at night and having phones and some security available, but the odds of someone actually doing this are ungodly low, and it's just not worth giving up your entire life because you're afraid of it.

[Texsox]

I wish I had more positive thoughts, but as I heard that this is now the deadliest in US history, my first thought was someone will see that as a challenge.

[3E8]

It replaces a similar incident by Charles Whitman at UT as worst US shooting spree.

[Milkman delivers]

Would that be ur dorm room?

 

I wouldn't even leave my room door unlocked when renting an apartment with good friends just to avoid any problems.

 

Yes, dorm.

 

It replaces a similar incident by Charles Whitman at UT as worst US shooting spree.

 

The clock tower?

[Texsox]

Listening to the coverage it appears that the first incidence was almost a classic domestic murder, and really no way tit foreshadowed the second. It also seems that it may turn out to be two different tragedies, linked only by time and location.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Listening to the coverage it appears that the first incidence was almost a classic domestic murder, and really no way tit foreshadowed the second. It also seems that it may turn out to be two different tragedies, linked only by time and location.

 

I've been careful not to blame the authorities for not going full lockdown and such after the first incident. But if it turns out these were unrelated and they had a person of interest in the first incident and then released him, then they really did screw up.

[jackie hayes]

I've been careful not to blame the authorities for not going full lockdown and such after the first incident. But if it turns out these were unrelated and they had a person of interest in the first incident and then released him, then they really did screw up.

Has that been suggested somewhere in the coverage? I feel like I missed something.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Has that been suggested somewhere in the coverage? I feel like I missed something.

 

It was floated at a press conference about an hour ago. The chief of campus police i think was just awaiting ballistics results to conclusively make the connection, but they also were not yet publicly ruling out a second shooter.

[Gregory Pratt]

Will this f***in uneccesary s***ty f***ing violence ever end?

 

No. Senseless violence is an integral part of societies all over hte world through history. It simply takes on different forms through different people and times and generations but it happens. And when it does, all you can do is hope to God it doesn't happen to you, send the person to jail or stop them with deadly force, and take care of yourself and the ones you love.

[LosMediasBlancas]

OK, the guman who went on the rampage killed himself.

Where is the gunman from the episode earlier in the day? Has he been caught?.. or are they assuming it was the same guy?

[StrangeSox]

They're waiting on ballistics reports to determine if it was the same weapon (and therefore shooter).

[fathom]

I disagree with everyone blaming the police/university for no warning. In reality, I'd think that a classroom is the safest place for these people to be in. The last thing you need is people running around outside with all of the commotion going on. Even if you lock down the campus, there's still ways that someone could get into a building, etc. This is just an unfortunate event, and it's no one's fault but the gunman.

[BearSox]

Marcus Vick?

 

Okay, jokes aside, this was a very saddening thing, and my condolences go out to the victims family and friends, and to every innocent person at VT. This could be a dramatizing thing for many people, scarring them for life. Death toll is up to 32 now. 33 if you count the shooter, but he deserved to die anyway.

[StrangeSox]

The more I think about, the more I agree with the course of action that the school took.

 

Was there any reason for them to believe that the first incident was anything but an isolated case? Why would they shut down this whole campus and incite this big panic before they could figure out the details of the case? U of I doesn't shut down every time there's an armed robbery (and there was 5 just the other weekend).

 

A city doesn't shut down and alert every one within minutes or even hours every time a murder happens. Given the size of the school, its much like its own city.

[WilliamTell]

Marcus Vick?

 

Okay, jokes aside, this was a very saddening thing, and my condolences go out to the victims family and friends, and to every innocent person at VT. This could be a dramatizing thing for many people, scarring them for life. Death toll is up to 32 now. 33 if you count the shooter, but he deserved to die anyway.

 

Oddly enough someone from my school also made a Marcus Vick joke about it.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

Oddly enough someone from my school also made a Marcus Vick joke about it.

 

I was thinking the same thing...