Is the Press being too quick to question the response by authorities to the VT massacre?

[mtnsnake]

Some journalists and reporters are merely questioning, but more and more seem to be criticizing the response (or lack of an adequate one) by police and by the university, mostly bringing up the issue of the 2 hour time delay between the first reports of murder and the second shooting spree. Apparently, authorities thought that the gunman had left the premises after the first incident, and some in the media seem to be jumping all over that as if something better could've been done after the first shooting. Is this too soon for the media to be questioning the response by authorities to the situation?

[William769]

1. Yes.

[LostinVA]

17. Agreed

[slackmaster]

2. Yes, I am sure of it

:argh:

[Donnachaidh]

3. email warnings went out 3 HOURS after the first shooting!?!

I would have to say No, they are not being too quick. How frigging hard is it to send out a damned EMAIL?

[LostinVA]

It was closer to two hours

[LostinVA]

18. It was closer to two hours

[Donnachaidh]

19. uhh -- still TOO LONG

FAR too LONG.

[Perky]

4. Yes

They thought it was a domsetic shooting.

[marylanddem]

5. Not at all

It sounds like the campus officials totally mishandled the situation.

[trumad]

6. NO

[MadBadger]

7. Its really hard to say.

[mtnsnake]

11. I agree. That's why I want to see what other DU'ers think about it.

One side of me says they should be asking the types of questions they are asking if it's going to help us get to the bottom of things, but the other side of me says, WTF, these kids just died hours ago and already fingers of blame are being pointed, so I'm just wondering about the timing of it.

Too bad the press isn't this openly tough on Bush and on all the situations that he's botched up.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. Yes Yes Yes!! n/t

[Hamlette]

9. Yes, I don't see how they could have known the guy in the 1st shooting

which appeared to be a lovers fight, would shoot others.

[godai]

12. They didn't have to know. There's a law.

The law requires information quickly to be provided to students when a major event has occured on campus. This has been discussed on MSNBC.

[Hamlette]

20. ah, I didn't know, I admit to not being able to watch the news on stuff like this n/t

[godai]

10. No, 2 hours for 1st email, 5 minutes for 2nd email

They made a terrible mistake assuming that the gunman had gone away. What would have been wrong with sending the 1st email sooner. The critical time was before 9 am, when classes started. The gunman came in about 9:20 and started the massacre soon after. If the 1st email (sent after 9am) had been sent earlier, and there was a lot of time to do this, many lives may have been saved. The 2nd email, 5 minutes after the 2nd 911 call, shows how quickly an email could have been sent.

I don't understand at all the point "too quick". Don't you see the huge mistake in thinking that "the gunman had left the premises"? Try to imagine that it was your son or daughter in the building where the shootings occurred.

[Robbien]

14. Then why didn't the mayor of the city shut down the city?

The campus is spread all over the city. Several square miles of campus buildings intermixed with city public property.

Oh heck. Shut down the entire state why don't you. Terrorize everyone because one man shot two people in one building.

[godai]

16. Seems that you've never been to VT

It's a broad campus, but totally separate from Blacksburg. I don't understand your statements to shut down the entire city or state. They did shut down the campus following the 2nd shootings.

[Poll_Blind]

13. Hell yes! The opposite of how they reacted on 9/11, btw. n/t

PB

[MadBadger]

15. It is hard to not ask the question

because if the campus was locked down after the first shooting, then possibly the second shooting would have never occurred, and that shooting killed 30 people I believe. I think the questions now should stop though, and the new question should be, "What can be done better?"