"...very quiet, always by himself,"" loner," legal perm.resident ('92) two shootings connected

[underpants]

There is your short bio on the Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070417vtech-shootings,0,1137509.story?coll=chi-homepagepromo440-fea

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The suspected gunman in the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, Cho Seung-Hui, was a troubled 23-year-old senior from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room, sources say.

The note included a rambling list of grievances, according to sources. They said Cho also died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms.


Cho had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behavior, according to an investigative source, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women.


A note believed to have been written by Cho was found in his dorm room that railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

The English major from Centreville, Va., a rapidly growing suburb of Washington, D.C., came to the United States in 1992, an investigative source said. He was a legal permanent resident.

[grasswire]

1. is he some kind of fundamentalist?

A MOONIE, perhaps?

[underpants]

2. Who knows?

We'll see

[Warpy]

5. Nah, they tend toward fraud and fascism

but I don't know that they've ever taken a turn to murder.

I think he was just plain nuts.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. Imagine if he was ILLEGAL

O'Reilly's head would explode on live TV.

[valerief]

4. Stop teasing us with that thought! nt

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I think this was a lonely, young man, who had run headlong into the American

class system and racism. He apparently was troubled by our American culture of 'debauchery' and 'deceit' and was aware of the 'rich kids' who tend to be elitist towards many on a campus.

[KharmaTrain]

7. This Song Is Playing In My Head...

Circa 1974:

"An extremely quiet child" they called you in your school report
"He's always taken interest in the subjects that he's taught"
So what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your drive
To notify your parents of the manner in which you died

At St. Patricks every Sunday, Father Fletcher heard your sins
"Oh, he's unconcerned with competition he never cares to win"
But blood stained a young hand that never held a gun
And his parents never thought of him as their troubled son

"Now you'll never get to Heaven" Mama said
Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Grow up straight and true blue
Run along to bed"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking

They had you holed up in a downtown bar screaming for a priest
Some gook said "His brain's just snapped" then someone called the police
You'd knifed a Negro waiter who had tried to calm you down
Oh you'd pulled a gun and told them all to lay still on the ground

Promising to hurt no one, providing they were still
A young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killed
That gun butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palm
Oh your childhood cried out in your head "they mean to do you harm"

"Don't ever ride on the devil's knee" Mama said
Remember mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Pay your penance well, my child
Fear where angels tread"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking

Within an hour the news had reached the media machine
A male caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in Queens
The area had been sealed off, the kids sent home from school
Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the Kicking Mule

Oh they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those inside
"Throw out your gun, walk out slow just keep your hands held high"
But they pumped you full of rifle shells as you stepped out the door
Oh you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance of the law

"You've slept too long in silence" Mama said
Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Crazy boy, you'll only wind up with strange notions in your head"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking


- Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

[MuseRider]

15. That song

has haunted me since I first heard it. It is certainly a song for all ages sadly.

[lectrobyte]

26. I must be too young. I was thinking of this one:

At home, drawing pictures of mountain tops
With him on top, lemon yellow sun, arms raised in a 'v'
And the dead lay in pools of maroon below
Daddy didn't give attention
Oh, to the fact that mommy didn't care
King Jeremy the wicked ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today.

Clearly I remember pickin' on the boy
Seemed a harmless little fuck
Ooh, but we unleashed a lion
Gnashed his teeth and bit the recess lady's breast
How can I forget?
And he hit me with a surprise left
My jaw left hurtin', oh, dropped wide open
Just like the day, oh, like the day I heard

Daddy didn't give affection, no
And the boy was something that mommy wouldn't wear
King Jeremy the wicked ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today

Try to forget this
Try to forget this
Try to erase this
Try to erase this
From the blackboard

[alarimer]

8. Loners are distrusted in this society

because every time something like this happens, they describe the perpetrator as a "loner", "very quiet." It may be true but most of us who are loners or who are quiet don't kill people, yet we are still viewed as freaks with the potential to snap. Sad, really. Most of us are just not social and therefore, misunderstood in this society when you are expected to be gregarious and outgoing.

[lizerdbits]

20. Thank you

Some of us are quite happy with a small number of close friends and immediate family instead of large crowds where we vaguely know dozens of people. I might be a little weird (well maybe a lot), but I'm certainly not going to go on a killing rampage.

[northzax]

9. he set a fire in a dorm room, stalked women

and was still living on campus?

I would hate to be the person who made that decision today.

[Virginia Dare]

22. And bought guns and ammo with no problem apparently...n/t

[northzax]

28. why would he have a problem?

he was a legal resident of the Commonwealth, over the age of 18. you do not need a permit to posess a handgun, nor even to carry one openly.

[Raven]

10. "Ismail Ax "may refer to a story in the A-Quran about Ibrahim,

the father of Ismail, who went to his temple with an ax and destroyed all of the false gods.

[RestoreGore]

12. I thought of that too n/t

[qdemn7]

24. Thanks

I was wondering what that meant.

[RestoreGore]

11. "Ismail Ax"

Very strange. I do know Ismail is the Arabic spelling for Ishmael, son of Abraham that he sacrificed. Whether the message on his arm was religious in nature is anyone's guess, but I frankly wouldn't be surprised.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Why oh why I am thinking of both Leo Strauss and

the founder of the Arab Brotherhood? Koot, or something like that?

[maxsolomon]

14. Qutb

[Virginia Dare]

16. Why was he still at that school living in the dorm?

setting fire to a dorm and stalking women? WTF?

[underpants]

17. I'd guess

that these things go kinda slow and/or they were going to let him finish the semester or maybe some other thing

He had paid for the dorm for the semester maybe that played into this.

As always hindsight is 20/20

Sad

[Virginia Dare]

18. He had been "referred" to counseling...

I wonder if he ever got it. He was a deeply disturbed individual obviously, I still keep going back to how and where did he get his guns?

[underpants]

19. He bought them

at least one of them on Friday. The other he probably already had.

He had been living in the US for 15 of his 20 years so this "from South Korea" BS is just that.

[Virginia Dare]

21. Yes, but if he had a history of mental illness..

and was stalking women, that's really disturbing.

[underpants]

25. Va. gun laws

there has been a lot of discussion here today about Va. gun laws

This WAS true down in NewPort News in the 90's

There was an Amtrak stop on trains that ran from NYC and Philly near a bridge to Smithfield. See Smithfield had HUGE gun stores right across the river it was a good source of local revenue. Taxis used to be waiting on the day and time that the trained stopped they would pick up fares and go across the bridge to the gun stores and wait while bags of guns were purchased. Literally in big Santa sized bags. They would then drop the fare back on the other side of the river and they would get on the train going back up north. EVeryone knew about it-it was coordinated.

[northzax]

29. you do not need any permit in the Commonwealth to have a handgun

or even to carry one openly. this is a state where you are legally allowed to walk into a bar carrying a handgun, as long as it is not concealed. In fact, the only places specifically forbidden from open carry are churches, posted private property and VCU (I assume Tech falls under the private property statute.)

[malaise]

30. That is a serious question

Clearly the youth had issues.

[hang a left]

23. It is interesting that these things are coming out.

THere was a post at FDL this morning by Christie Hardin Smith regarding the warning signs of someone that would need an intervention.

This person certainly exhibited those traits.

[ellisonz]

27. May I dare say...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_theory_%28sociology%29