Virginia Tech

Of course this story bothers me. The worst mass murder in American history is going to bother almost everyone (and for those not bothered, well, I bloody well hope they don't see today's events as inspiration.) But even though Kevin Wignall raises interesting points about alienation among American teens and college students and the prospect of tightening gun control laws, the detail that really got under my skin is this:

Campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Monday night that investigators had preliminarily identified the gunman, whose name he did not reveal. Investigators told NBC News that they had trouble for several hours identifying the man, who died after he shot himself in the face. He carried no ID, and an initial check on his fingerprints came up empty. (Italics mine)

Now, when this was first reported, police hadn't made any sort of identification, and presumably a name will be announced or more likely, leak out to the first available media scooper as soon as possible. But I can't help but think that our shooter, whoever he turns out to be, is a different animal from the Charles Whitmans, the Howard Unruhs and the Harrises and Klebolds of the world. We'll see if Ed's hypothesis that "he first American mass murder along these lines...in which there was absolutely no ego involved" bears out, but shooting yourself in the face and going to the trouble of - at least temporarily - making it difficult for cops to identify you smacks of something way beyond the typical school shooting motivations.

And if the Chicago Sun-Times is correct, we may be looking at quite different territory:

Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.

The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said.

Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said.

We'll see how this develops, but I suspect the answers that will emerge may not be pleasant, to say the least.

UPDATE: Well, the above article shows the biggest problem with round-the-clock reporting. David Montgomery corrects the record, saying the gunman was from Fairfax County. A press conference revealing more information - including the shooter's name - will take place later this morning.

More comprehensive and corrective updates are taking place at Crimeblog.us.

UPDATE TWO: The shooter has been identified as 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui, an English major at Virginia Tech.

Comments

[Steve Allan]

I think it's hard for any person to understand why someone would do something so horrific. It's still way too early to make any conclusions, but I think collectively we hope a person like this is mentally ill because we can understand that - a malfunction of the mind. But if he turns out to be someone with no history of mental illness and he did this without mental or moral obstacle, then it's difficult for us as a society not to label this guy as evil, as a monster. We need to believe that sane humans are not capable of such acts because it reflects on ourselves and others near us. If this guy calculated this massacre and went about murdering innocent people without ego, then how will we feel safe?

Almost a year ago, we had a Canadian boy murder two men whose names he found on the Maine sex crime registration list. He didn't have a connection to either of these men, and before anyone could get answers from him, he shot himself while in a stand-off with Boston police. The question of why still lingers around this story, but many people are satisfied that killing sexual predators is "understandable." Today's killings may leave us with the unanswered why, but it won't be easy for us to understand.

[Bryon Quertermous]

I think you're right about this guy being different than the others. The biggest difference I noticed was the death toll. Most of the time when these shooting occur, 40-50 people may be shot, but only a few usually die. This guy knew what he was doing.

[David J. Montgomery]

The WaPost is reporting that the shooter is from Fairfax County, which is where I live. Not only is this whole thing damn sad, but it's damn scary as well. The amount of damage that kid was able to do is mind-boggling.

[Ingrid (I.J.Parker)]

Like everyone, I watched and waited -- for revelations about the killer. To grasp his mindset. This began as a "domestic" crime in a dorm. On a campus, this implies romance gone wrong. Then it escalated into a massacre of apparently randomly chosen human beings. What happened to this killer between the first murders and the massacre?
What part has society in this?