True to form, the incident is not hours old and the media is passing blame and running to judgement on what happened. CNN seems to be laying blame to lack of training for SWAT, local police and campus security.

 

People are going to run to the view that schools need to do more. But unfortunately, you cannot prevent murder or it would be obsolete at this time. Sadly, things like this will happen and continue to happen.

 

That doesn't mean that schools shouldn't ignore realistic things that they can do to hamper or make it harder for things to happen, but you cannot prevent it from EVER happening again.

 

And that is sad.

 

That is just stupid. There's no way to prepare for something like this. The police run into a situation pretty much blinded - they know nothing about what they're up against. There's no way to prepare for anything like this and be perfect under these conditions. You can't train for the unknown.

That is just stupid. There's no way to prepare for something like this. The police run into a situation pretty much blinded - they know nothing about what they're up against. There's no way to prepare for anything like this and be perfect under these conditions. You can't train for the unknown.

 

agreed! Also the networks making political statements with sidebar stories about the gun laws in the state... Sorry, that might be a relavant story in a few days for the opinion/editorial page, but not appropriate for the news page at the moment... Not surprising though.

MSNBC said a boyfriend/girlfriend was in a fight at the dorm. An RA intervened and the boyfriend shot the girl and the RA and then left.

 

 

That's odd. That kind of killer doesn't seem like the type of killer who'd wait 2 more hours to kill 30 more people. It may have very well been the same shooter, but it's weird.

That's odd. That kind of killer doesn't seem like the type of killer who'd wait 2 more hours to kill 30 more people. It may have very well been the same shooter, but it's weird.

The local police chief made references that suggested these "MIGHT" be separate incidents.

The shooter has been identified; but they're not ready to release the name.

 

So the shooter's still alive?

So the shooter's still alive?

He didn't say the shooter was alive -- just "identiified."

The local police chief made references that suggested these "MIGHT" be separate incidents.

 

 

It wouldn't surprise me if it were two seperate incidents.

I agree.

This is a tragedy. All involved are in my prayers.

This is a tragedy. All involved are in my prayers.

I agree.:cry:

CNN is reporting that investigators have a "person of interest"? Wonder what that is about.

How could you be a parent and have to go identify your child?

Now some reports are stating that the shooter baracaded himself and others in a classroom and opened fire. In other reports, witnesses said they tried to baracade the shooter out of the room. There are a lot of conflicting reports still out there.

I have a really close friend who went to Northern and initiated into our fraternity and transfered to VT. We were all a little worried when we couldn't get a hold of him for about two hours today because he's had engineering classes before. But luckily he was okay...it's just a sad and unfortunate day for our country.

 

God Bless the families.

On the security....

 

Imagine there is a shooting at your place of employment as you are driving into work tomorrow. What are the odds you will be contacted before you arrive on site? If the first shooting was incidental to the second one, nothing they could have done (except cancel classes) would have kept the second from happening. If the shooter was intent on killing 32 people in a crowded building, odds are very good he would have looked for a different target elsewhere on campus -- the cafeteria, the student rec center, etc. Except for guards and metal detectors at every door, you couldn't have prohibited this.

 

On the media....

 

Of course the media is pointing fingers. That is the society we live in today (ashamedly). BGP represents a nice cross-culture of posters on here -- hundreds of them. How many threads have you read on here that were started with the sole intent of blaming someone else for a problem?

 

Cops pulled me over but I did nothing wrong. It was their fault I got a ticket.

 

Tubby lost the game because....(insert reason here). It's his fault.

 

Refs called a bad game. It was their fault we lost.

 

It's the president's fault gas prices are so high.

 

It's Al Sharpton's fault Don Imus got fired.

 

There is very little individual accountability in our society anymore. I agree it's tacky to be assigning blame so quicky in a tragedy like this, but it's a byproduct of the world we now live in.

 

On the police response...

 

In a case like this where it didn't unfold on live TV like Columbine, I don't see how anyone can assess what the police did or did not do right within the first 12-15 hours of the incident unless you are a member of the Va. Tech Campus Police or Blacksburg Police Department.