Virginia Tech rampage
At Virginia Tech shooting on the morning of April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Tech (short Virginia Tech in) Blacksburg in US -Bundesstaat Virginia 32 people were killed and 17 others injured. The perpetrator then shot himself.
Along with the Bath School Massacre (1927), the Columbine High School rampage (1999), the Sandy Hook Elementary School rampage (2012) and the Parkland School Massacre (2018), the crime was one of the most serious violent crimes at an educational institution in the United States.
Sequence of events
The offender fired the first shots at 7:15 a.m. (1:15 p.m. CEST ) in the West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory, where 895 students live. Two people were killed and three injured. The police were investigating the first crime scene when the next shots were fired about two hours later (9:00 am - 9:30 am) on campus in Norris Hall , about 600 meters north . This time significantly more people were murdered. After the perpetrator entered the building, he locked the exits with chains to prevent the students from escaping. He shot with two legally acquired semi-automatic pistols, a Glock 19 in caliber 9 mm Para and a small caliber pistol of the type Walther P22 .
Five teachers were also among the dead:
- Christopher James Bishop, IT consultant and German teacher, formerly a Fulbright scholar in Kiel , son of Michael Bishop
- Liviu Librescu , one of Romania originating mechanical engineering professor - he changed the gunman in the doorway the way, allowed his students to escape through the window and was shot dead
- Kevin Granata , a biomechanic
- GV Loganathan , a civil engineer from India
- Jocelyne Couture Nowak.
When the police arrived, the perpetrator took his own life.
backgrounds
The act was committed by the 23-year-old South Korean student Cho Seung-hui (spelling Hangeul : 조승희; lived in the USA under the anglicised name sequence Seung-hui Cho), who immigrated to the USA with his parents from South Korea around 1992 and last lived in one of the Virginia Tech dormitories. He was not a citizen of the United States, but held a permanent residence permit . He studied English as an undergraduate in his fourth year after studying economics there.
On the day of the crime, Cho sent under the pseudonym "A. Ishmael ”a package with a DVD containing 37 videos and 43 photos, as well as a 1,800 word“ manifest ”to the US television station NBC . The time stamp (9:01 a.m. local time) shows that Cho posted the package on the Monday after his first shots in a post office adjacent to the university campus. In it, he explained, among other things, his hatred of the rich and further stated that his act could have been avoided. It is also reported that several passages of the text are against Christianity and indulgence. The broadcaster informed the FBI and broadcast excerpts from the video on the evening of April 18, 2007 (local time). In eleven photos Cho can be seen with two handguns. In addition, Cho referred in his manifesto to the two perpetrators of the rampage at Columbine High School, whom he referred to as " martyrs ". The investigators therefore assumed that Cho - at least also - was inspired by the Columbine rampage.
The broadcaster CNN reported that Cho was pronounced " deranged " in 2005 by a special judge from the US state Virginia . The judge also found that Cho was a danger to himself. It had already become known that Cho had been in a psychiatric clinic that same year. Due to the fact that he went to the mental hospital voluntarily, he was able to acquire weapons legally.
In eighth grade, Cho was diagnosed with selective mutism . Past classmates testified that he had been a victim of school bullying for years .
Reactions
The president of the university, Charles W. Steger , said of the events: "The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental proportions." (Eng. "The university was hit by a tragedy of enormous proportions.") Virginias Governor Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency after the fact .
Some students and teachers criticized the university management and, above all, the tactics of the police, which assumed an individual crime after the incident in the student residence. The members of the university were neither warned, nor was the university evacuated.
In addition, the incident rekindled the discussion about liberal gun rights in the United States. In Virginia, any innocent citizen over the age of 18 can purchase handguns . In an initial statement, President George W. Bush immediately stressed that every US citizen has the right to carry a weapon. However, they would have to obey all laws. Republican presidential nominee John McCain endorsed this assessment. The ratings of the rampage by the American and international press differed widely and generated wide coverage on the Internet.
In April 2008, the relatives of the victims and the survivors of the rampage agreed with the US state of Virginia on a compensation payment of 11 million US dollars. In return, the victims waived their right to sue the university.
For reporting by the Washington Post , reporters were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News . Among other things, Jose Antonio Vargas interviewed an eyewitness .
See also
Web links
- Virginia Tech Memorial website (English)
- MSNBC reports with graphics and more accurate sequence of events (english)
- Victims' Profiles (Washington Post )
- Cho Seung-hui photos (English)
- Mr Brownstone and Richard McBeef , two plays by Cho Seung-hui (PDF, English)
- “Driven to success” , DIE ZEIT, No. 18 of April 26, 2007
Individual evidence
- ^ T. Rees Shapiro: After Virginia Tech mass shooting, big miracles at a small hospital. In: The Washington Post. April 15, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
- ^ Spiegel Online "How a loner became a mass murderer" April 18, 2007
- ↑ memory39 ( Memento from February 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ (April 18, 2007). Virginia Tech Massacre: The Victims ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Fox News ; David Vickrey (April 17, 2007). Professor of German Killed in Virginia Tech Massacre . Article on www.dialoginternational.com (accessed April 18, 2007)
- ^ Spiegel Online "The Hero of Norris Hall" , April 17, 2007
- ↑ BBC : "Virginia massacre gunman is named" , April 17, 2007 (English);
- ↑ Fox News : "Virginia Tech Massacre: The Victims" ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 18, 2007 (English)
- ↑ CNN : "Police: Virginia Tech shooter an English major, 23" , April 17, 2007 (English)
- ^ NBC : Information from NBC; see there under "Slide Show Manifesto Photos" (2nd photo shows package)
- ↑ N24 : “You have decided to shed my blood” ( Memento of September 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), April 19, 2007
- ↑ Die Presse: "Blacksburg: Commission to investigate US massacre"
- ↑ Spiegel Online : "The shooter sent US stations between the murders videos and photos" , April 19, 2007
- ↑ Kieran Nicholson: Cho: Killers at Columbine “martyrs”. In: The Denver Post. April 18, 2007, accessed March 23, 2019.
- ↑ FAZ : "You have decided to shed my blood" , April 19, 2007
- ^ Spiegel Online : "Gunman was in psychiatric treatment" , April 18, 2007
- ↑ Tagesschau : Shooting at Virginia Tech ( Memento from February 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Charles W. Steger : Tragedy at Virginia Tech ( Memento December 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), official statements on the Virginia Tech website, accessed April 17, 2007
- ↑ Netzeitung : “Horror after the bloodiest rampage in the USA” ( Memento from January 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), April 17, 2007
- ^ Tagesschau "Offender studied at Virginia Tech" , April 17, 2007
- ↑ RP Online : USA is discussing stricter gun laws ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 17, 2007
- ↑ Der Spiegel : Press Reviews and the Different Reactions of European and American Internet Users , April 18, 2007
- ^ Spiegel Online: Those affected receive $ 11 million in compensation
Coordinates: 37 ° 13 ′ 46.9 ″ N , 80 ° 25 ′ 23.9 ″ W.