Virginia Tech Shootings: Seung-Hui Cho

Dontey Branch
4/11/17
Essay Two

Virginia Tech Shootings
On April 16, 2007 a man named Seung-Hui Cho went on a killing massacre at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Virginia. Prior to the attack Cho was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. It was apparent to his family and teachers that there was something dark about the way he carried himself and in the work that he submitted it class. Cho attended counseling throughout childhood and into his late teens but would decide not to attend counseling in college when professors recommended it to him. In 2005 he was put under investigation by Virginia Tech for stalking two females. This resulted in Cho being court ordered to get outpatient mental health treatment. At the time the National instant

Criminal Background Check System allowed people with mental health issues to buy hand guns which led to Cho’s ability to obtain the glock 19 and .22 caliber hand guns for the shooting.
Around 7:00am on April 16 Cho obtained access to West Ambler Johnston hall which is a dormitory.

Cho’s first victim was Emily J. Hilscher who was in her room with her roommate at the time. Cho shot her and then shot the RA that tried to come help. It was said that Cho and Emily had a romantic relationship that went south but no proof of this was found. After shooting them both Cho quickly fled the scene back to his dorm room in Harper hall. The campus was not evacuated after the first shooting. Cho was next seen by the duck pond in different clothes and then by the post office to mail NBC news a package about his massacre. This package was later found to contain videos, photos, and a manifesto explaining why he “had” to do it. He blamed the rich and spoiled kids that treated him poorly at the

school.
About two hours later the entire campus was still not notified about the shooting in West Ambler Johnston hall.

Cho then went to Norris hall and put chains and signs telling people not to leave or the building would explode. A teacher saw one of the notes and took it up to the third floor where the buildings administration staff was. According to witnesses Cho was spotted peeking in to class rooms multiple times before opening the door to room 206 to shoot and kill Professor G.V. Loganathan and nine out the thirteen students in the class room. Two other students were injured at this time as well. The next classroom on Cho’s list was room 207. There he killed the teacher Jamie Bishop, four students and wounded six. In rooms 204 and 211 the teachers and students heard the commotion and tried to barricade the door in to the classroom. In 204 the teacher Liviu Librescu took the responsibility in trying to hold the door closed while students went out the windows. This lead to Librescu being shot through the door. The bravery of Librescu kept the casualties to just two including him and one student that could not make it out in time. In 211 the teacher and one student tried to keep the door closed but Cho ended up killing the teacher and eleven students while also injuring six. Professor Kevin Granata took his students to the third floor to his office that had a lock on the door. All of these students survived bit Professor Granata did not because he went to go check out what was

going on in the lower floor and was shot by Cho. After unsuccessful attempts on a few other class rooms Cho goes back to the previous rooms and kills a few more already wounded students.
Ten minutes after the second shooting started it ended with Cho putting his glock 19 to his head and killing himself. Cho killed a total of 32 people and injured 17 in a matter of hours. Police reports says that 28 of the people killed had gotten shot in the head and all the people dead had at least three bullets in them. After the fact there was speculation on why Cho was able to acquire weapons like this with such a mental condition. This shooting lead to a stronger background check when purchasing weapons. It was also questioned as to why the entire campus was not notified until hours after the first shooting occurred at 7:00 a.m. The immediate notification of a shooter on the campus could have prevented the amount of horror that ensued.

References
Virginia Tech Shooting. Retrieved April 12, 2017, from http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/virginia-tech-shooting/
Seung-Hui Cho. (2014, October 14). Retrieved April 12, 2017, from http://www.biography.com/people/seung-hui-cho-235991
Americas | US university shooting kills 33. (2007, April 17). Retrieved April 12, 2017, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560685.stm