Posted on 04/17/2007 10:03:44 PM PDT by TBP
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- On a university campus of 2,600 acres, with more than 26,000 students, ironclad security is not a practical goal. Even so, tough questions swiftly surfaced as to how effectively Virginia Tech authorities responded to Monday's horrific massacre.
Why were campus police so sure the threat was contained in one dormitory, when most of the killings occurred two hours later in a classroom building?
Why did they think the assailant might have left the campus after those initial shootings?
Why was there a lag of more than two hours after the first shootings before an alarm was e-mailed campuswide - around the time another, more deadly burst of carnage occurred? And more generally, some security experts wondered, was the school's crisis planning and emergency communications system up to the task?
Clearly, something went terribly wrong.
Bombarded with security questions at a news conference, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed the shooting at the West Ambler Johnston dorm, first reported about 7:15 a.m., was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.
"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
BTTT
I work in Law Enforcement. The scuttlebutt around the community seems to be: The reported first shooting was described as a “Domestic” incident, the campus police then went looking for the boyfriend of the first victim and located him, “the so called person of interest” apparently Cho had been stalking this girl, and witnesses thought it was a boyfriend/girlfriend argument between her and cho. In fact, the boyfriend wasnt Cho.
So when the police asked friends of the first victim “who is her boyfriend”, they obviously didnt name cho, they named the real boyfriend. Thats who the police were interrogating when word of the shootings at Norris came in. Honestly, the police really didnt screw this up. They thought had a boyfriend/girlfriend domestic homicide and had the boyfriend in for questioning at the time, that would fit as to why they didnt lock the rest of the campus down, they thought they had their guy. Apparently the shooter wasnt seen at AJ West, the argument was by the elevators there and was heard by people, followed by the shots. The asian description didnt come out until the witnesses from Norris emerged from the building.
Hindsight should generate better foresight. If there were armed citizens on campus, lives would have been saved. That’s why it is a right in this society. Compelling those student citizens to relinquish their rights was the wrong thing to do, and now the administration of that campus will learn the hard way why this was a bad idea.
I work in Law Enforcement. The scuttlebutt around the community seems to be: The reported first shooting was described as a “Domestic” incident, the campus police then went looking for the boyfriend of the first victim and located him, “the so called person of interest” apparently Cho had been stalking this girl, and witnesses thought it was a boyfriend/girlfriend argument between her and cho. In fact, the boyfriend wasnt Cho. So when the police asked friends of the first victim “who is her boyfriend”, they obviously didnt name cho, they named the real boyfriend. Thats who the police were interrogating when word of the shootings at Norris came in. Honestly, the police really didnt screw this up. They thought had a boyfriend/girlfriend domestic homicide and had the boyfriend in for questioning at the time, that would fit as to why they didnt lock the rest of the campus down, they thought they had their guy. Apparently the shooter wasnt seen at AJ West, the argument was by the elevators there and was heard by people, followed by the shots. The asian description didnt come out until the witnesses from Norris emerged from the building.Thank you for your explanation of the reasoning behind what went on. I appreciate it.
I have had some recent exxperience with college academia. That being said, it is just about par for the course that these administrative turkeys would address this issue early on “by committee.” And, they did !!!
Inexcusable on all counts. Positive, dynamic leadership by the guy in charge is the hallmark of effective decision making — right or wrong.
In my profession, the Captain of the Ship in this instance would have been summarily relieved on the first day —even before the “investigation” commenced.
Not for these bums. they will do the PC dance ‘til the cows come home; and skate out from under any assumption of individual responsibility. That, fellow Freepers, is what this pathetic “cover your six” is all about. (Very similar to how the EU and UN operate.)
My God, I despise the abhorrent mindset of academia in our United States. It does our Republic grave disservice.
You’re acting like it’s somehow different from the corporate or federal governance. However, the administration should have had this kid committed with extreme prejudice. They knew he was a time bomb. You have to take your lumps and discrimination lawsuits in a case like this. Otherwise the alternative is too terrible to contemplate. And the alternative is exactly what happened.
Uh, I don’t find a single instance of the word “lawyer” in the article. What’s the point of your title?
You’re acting like it’s somehow different from the corporate or federal governance. However, the administration should have had this kid committed with extreme prejudice. They knew he was a time bomb. You have to take your lumps and discrimination lawsuits in a case like this. Otherwise the alternative is too terrible to contemplate. And the alternative is exactly what happened.
“PC Campus Police Did Nothing Because of Lawyers”
I am sorry, but can you please explain why your title reads as such? I have read the article a few times, and it makes no mention of “lawyers”..yet it’s in the title of your thread. Did I miss something?
Do you know why they rushed everyone to that ridiculous “Heal, heal, heal!!!” ceremony today before the students knew what happened and before the bodies have been buried? Because the Administrators FAILED FAILED FAILED!!! And they are woried about being SUED! SUED! SUED!!!
A crime of passion doesnt mean suicide. He shot a woman and the woman’s lover. That means it looked like a man shot his ex and his ex’s new squeeze, thus- a crime of passion.
After that, usually the shooter goes into hiding. A sectioned off dorm means that they can investigate the crime-scene, and pursue based on evidence later.
The mistake was forgetting that a university is not like a neighborhood but essentially one large building. So of like ignoring a shooting in a skyscraper.
I think that students and faculty should have been notified that a double murder had taken place, and that the killer had not been apprehended. Cancel classes for the day too.
The cops actually got there pretty quick.
Do you know why they rushed everyone to that ridiculous “Heal, heal, heal!!!” ceremony today before the students knew what happened and before the bodies have been buried? Because the Administrators FAILED FAILED FAILED!!! And they are woried about being SUED! SUED! SUED!!!ding ding ding
A diffoculty is that so many students live off campus. But, no, the administration probably should have tried to get the word out. But who could have anticipated such an eventuality?
So just two hours after the initial shooting, before the second shooting they put all this together and were in the process of interviewing the boyfriend? I wonder how long it took them to do a GSR on him?
They must have been absolutely, utterly stunned when the big fireworks went off.
Talk about suck-on-top-of-suck.
Imainge, you’re in your room, surfing the web, and the cops bang on your door.
You get hauled off and interogated for... your girlfriend is dead? But wait... she was cheating on you too?
Oh, and while you were having such a joyus revelation, people you likely knew are getting shot. Only, you discover this is the only reason you get off quickly... becaus your school has just become a bloodbath.
Man, I know alot of people are having it rough, but damn!
genuine question: have the various police forces revised their policies on the correct tactics to adopt in the case of a school shooting? I know that in Montreal since the massacre at the Polytechnique, the police has changed its policy and has adopted “a storm the building and search and destroy approach” to school shootings as opposed to the previous “secure the scene and evaluate or wait and see”.
The new policy worked extremely well last fall when a gunman entered a downtown college at lunch time with multiple weapons. He was pursued and shot down almost immediately and only managed to kill one young girl.
They were looking for him for a reason. The deceased’s roommate had told them he owned guns.
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