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Former VSP Superintendant Massengill Speaks on Cho

V

vrwmiller

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[font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"] Tech Report: Cho couldn't be stopped
[/font][/font][font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]By BILL MCKELWAY[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"] [/font][/font][font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]Media General News Service[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]Monday, August 20, 2007[/font][/font]
[font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- A report on the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy due this week will conclude that it was essentially unpreventable once the rampage had gotten underway April 16.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]Retired State Police Superintendent W. Gerald Massengill told reporters here today that gunman Seung-Hui Cho could not immediately have been stopped.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]Speaking to Cho's longtime mental health issues and law enforcement's difficulty in identifying the shooter, Massengill said that preventing his attack might mean creating a world where "nobody could really live and learn."

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]The alternative would be living in a world that would intrude too deeply into daily lives, he said. But he also acknowledged that Cho "fell through the cracks" repeatedly during the course of his life when issues about his mental health were raised and addressed.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]Massengill is leading final deliberations of an expert panel that was appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in the days following the shootings, which took 32 lives and wounded dozens more. Cho also killed himself.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]Massengill said today that a report will be released publicly on Friday, although he could not promise it would be the final version.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]He said the report will have "the detail and clarity that will answer most, if not all, the questions" about Cho and his background.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]But Massengill stressed that Cho's relative anonymity -- "he was just another student" -- made it highly unlikely that Cho could have been stopped once he had entered a Virginia Tech dormitory early April 16 and dispatched his first two victims.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]"No one knew who he was," Massengill said.

[/font][/font] [font="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"][font="verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"]"If Cho was to have been stopped, it would have to have been before those first two hours."

source
[/font][/font]
 
A

automan

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Code: 
A report on the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy due this week will conclude that it was essentially unpreventable once the rampage had gotten underway April 16.



Yes, I agree. Unpreventable by the LEOs and had VT allowed students to carry on campus Cho could still haveshot some victims before anyone could have done anything about it. But, had Cho been faced with a couple armed victims, he may have shot himself sooner. But, I suppose the "report" will ignore theissue of carry on VA campuses and instead call for morerestrictive gun laws to ??? do what????restrict the 99% of law abiding Virginia gun owners?
 
Dutch Uncle

Dutch Uncle

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"He was just another student"...No one knew who he was".

EXCUUUUSE ME!!!

From what I read at the time, numerous faculty members and fellow students knew he was unhinged and potentially dangerous. What else did Cho need to do to make his intentions known? Send out an email warning people he'd start shooting soon? (In fact, I think he did do something like that....)

The primary responsibility for safety and security rests with the individual. The police are largely a reactionary force. But I suspect we'll hear more "gun free zone" pabulum to soothe the restive masses.

Idiots!
 
R

Renegade

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I am guessing we could have saved the taxpayers quite a bit of money by simply stating that:

You, the individual, have the ultimate responsibility for your own protection. We, the government, can only provide a reasonable effort in protecting society as a whole, and will never be able to protect individual members of society such as you.

The critical metric in any mass killing are defined as the difference in time between the killing begins, and the time when an armed citizen (or police officer) confronts the criminal with equal or greater force.

In summary - get off the social welfare wagon regarding security and protect your self. If you are present when a mass murder is taking place - run in the direction of the gunfire and shoot the SOB murdering other people - seconds save lives.
 
S

SP101

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Renegade wrote:
I am guessing we could have saved the taxpayers quite a bit of money by simply stating that:

You, the individual, have the ultimate responsibility for your own protection. We, the government, can only provide a reasonable effort in protecting society as a whole, and will never be able to protect individual members of society such as you.

The critical metric in any mass killing are defined as the difference in time between the killing begins, and the time when an armed citizen (or police officer) confronts the criminal with equal or greater force.

In summary - get off the social welfare wagon regarding security and protect your self. If you are present when a mass murder is taking place - run in the direction of the gunfire and shoot the SOB murdering other people - seconds save lives.
Click to expand...
I agree with what you said 100%!!!! The chances that an LEO will happen to be at the scene at the moment shit hits the fan is as likely as your hitting the lottery.

A legallyarmed civilian population would deter crimemore than a million more police on the streets any day. And it would all be for FREE.
 
T

Tomahawk

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We are all of a mind, here, but you better believe that when this report comes out Friday, it's gonna bereeeeeaaaaal ugly. Put your activism face on, folks...it's comin'.
 
L

longwatch

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If anyone needs some rhetorical ammunition I would suggest picking up a copy of this months SWAT magazine. There is a very good article on active shooters in schools. One thing I picked up from it is the timelines of a few incidents, particularly the response times of police.
 
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