Breaking: VT shooter sent "multimedia manifesto" to NBC News in between the two shootings (UPDATED2)
By maxwells silver hammer Posted in Breaking News — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Promoted by Dan McLaughlin. Under no circumstances should NBC air or disclose anything sent to the network by a mass murderer to publicize his words or opinions on the backs of his victims.
Via Drudge:
NBC News President Steve Capus said the network received the package in Wednesday morning's mail delivery and immediately turned the material over to FBI agents in New York. The FBI is assisting Virginia State Police in the investigation.
The package included a long, “rambling, manifesto-like statement embedded with a series of photographs,” Capus said. The material is “hard-to-follow ... disturbing, very disturbing — very angry, profanity-laced,” he said.
Apparently Nightly News will air segments of the video tonight. Tune in at 6:30 Eastern to see the report.
Update:
Pictures
Read On...
This is an interesting development. It's sure to give more insight into what Cho was doing in the two hour lapse between the shootings. With every new development we see a growing portrait of a very disturbed young man.
This is something on the shooting which I posted in another diary.
This is one of the saddest things I ever read. Not just that people got shot. It's that a whole group of people just laid on the floor, let the killer shoot them one by one, then when he left the room the survivors just laid there, and continued laying there and playing "dead" when the killer came back and "continued to shoot everyone over and over".
think of the schematics of the classroom. He barged in, shot the teacher, and had cut off the doorway. From the rate he was firing at and how indiscriminately he was killing, I think we can say with confidence that anyone who stood up would have been mowed down before they took a step. Also, I don't know if this was in another classroom, but after he left the first time, the survivors actually blocked the door to keep him in the hallway.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
The article I mentioned is quoted below. The victims just lay there and lay there and lay there, even after the killer left the room and then came back and continued to pump more rounds each of them. When police eventually asked survivors to stand up, only two of them did. The rest died without any resistance at all.
Following the gun was a man.... I quickly dove under a desk — that was the desk I chose to die under. He then began methodically and calmly shooting people down. ...he took his time in between each shot and kept up the pace, moving from person to person... Shot after shot went off... I played dead...Sometimes after a shot, I would hear a quick moan...
After some time... he left. The room was silent except for the haunting sound of moans... I [propped] my head up just enough to mutter in a harsh whisper, "play dead. If he thinks you're dead then he won't kill you."
Shortly after, the gunman returned... I continued to play dead. He began unloading what it seemed like a second round into everyone again — it had to be the same people. There were way more gunshots than there were people in that room. I think I heard him reload maybe three times... they were long pauses. He continued to shoot everyone over and over... I had come to accept my death
The cops ... eventually ... came in and told us to walk out if we could. I got up and put my hands up. Just me and that one girl next to me got up.
I can't comment on anyone's actions that were in the classroom. I think when something like that is happening one's instincts prevails over measured thinking. I certainly don't fault the students for their actions on Monday.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
I don't have any problem with saying that I think those people made a big mistake, even though I wasn't there. I never really understood the argument against doing that.
The most important thing to discuss is what other people should do if they are in the same situation. Unfortunately such discussion rarely includes anything more than both sides of the gun control debate saying their side of the story. Both of those reinforce the myth that anyone with a gun is invincible, which leads people to be slaughtered instead of fighting back.
you have done?
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
That's the question I would never answer, "What would I do?", because I don't know, and it is not personal. The real question is "What is the RIGHT thing to do?" Whether or not I personally would be strong enough to do it is irrelevant.
Here's what another student from Virginia Tech in the same situation did:
Petkewicz described his state of mind unabashedly: "I was completely scared out of my mind originally, just went into a cowering position, and then just realized you have got to do something."
He realized he had "to do something", not just stay in "a cowering position". So he and the other people in the room pushed a table against the door and held it there, even when the killer pushed back and shot through the door. Instead of being targets by staying in front of the door, the students stayed on the sides of the door, which were cinder blocks.
Most of the students who fought back stayed alive. Almost all those who lay on the floor in "a cowering position" died.
> play dead. If he thinks you're dead then he won't kill you
Was this true? It sounds like the killer wasn't worried about wasting ammunition, and kept shooting everyone without checking to see if they were dead.
Does it make sense for someone to "play dead" by laying still in plain view when a killer is walking around the room and shooting everyone?
According to the article up on Drudge now, Cho was evaluated by mental health pros who noted on a form that he was an "imminent danger to himself" and an "imminent danger to others".
Then he was let go.
I'm a second amendment supporter, but mentally ill people are not supposed to be able to buy guns. This guy should have been locked up when that doctor said "imminent danger" to himself or others. That's the standard for involuntary confinement.
I imagine this is going to get stranger.
Brian Williams started out by saying he appreciatd the sensitivity of the material in light of what people had gone through. Then he proceeded to air a videoed rant, plus still pictures of Cho posing with his guns.
Some of the material was done on the day of the shooting (he went to the post office between shootings to mail it!), and other stuff was done ahead of time.
This guy didn't just "snap" one day. It was cold, calculated mass murder planned over weeks.
From the same link as above:
The package included an 1,800-word manifesto-like statement diatribe in which he expresses rage, resentment and a desire to get even.
The material is “hard-to-follow ... disturbing, very disturbing — very angry, profanity-laced,” Capus said in an interview late Wednesday afternoon.
The material does not include any images of the shootings Monday, but it does contain “vague references,” including “things like ‘this didn’t have to happen,’ ” Capus said.
“You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today,” Cho says on one of the videos. “But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off.”
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
So NBC Evening News, MSNBC and Today all air their scoop. Somewhere there must be a morally bankrupt NBC manager who's moaning about why this couldn't have happened during May sweeps week.
Sent them the package. Any other news organization would do the same if they recieved it.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain
...but if we TRULY had the freedom to keep and bear arms, this man wouldn't have made it past the 3rd shot.
An armed society is a polite society. Darwin takes care of the rest.
> With every new development we see a growing portrait of a very disturbed young man.
Yes, and there is much, much more to come. The future killer had severe problems with the police (stalking complaints) and his teachers at the end of 2005 which led to his being examined during a court ordered stay at a mental hospital.
Since then, up until the shootings, the problems seemed to have gone away. At least there were no university police complaints, and his teacher's complaints seemed to come from 2005.
So the big question is what happened over the last five quarters. Did he take medication which kept him under control? Or was he still sane enough that he managed to keep himself out of trouble?