Virginia tech massacre

The Virginia Tech massacre

‘’You caused me to do it …’’ – Seung-Hui Cho

About the Virginia Tech massacre

The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007 on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and state University in Blacksburg.
A man named Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 of his fellow students and teachers on top of that he wounded 17 others in two separate attacks. Another 6 people were injured escaping from classroom windows. This massacre is the deadliest shooting attack by a single gunman in U.S. history.
Cho was born on January 18, 1984 in Seoul, South Korea and was 23 years old when he died. He was a senior English major at Virginia Tech and had previously been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder before the shooting took place. He moved to the United States at the age of 8 with his family and became a US permanent resident as a South Korean national.
On the morning of April 16, Cho shot and killed two people in West Ambler Johnston residence hall. He then returned to his own residence hall, changed from his bloody clothes and left again. Cho blended with the normal flow of students and staff for two hours while the police was searching for the killer and any evidence that he might have left behind. He went to the Blacksburg post office were he mailed to the NBC network a set of writings and a videotape expressing contempt for his fellow students as privileged, spoiled and morally corrupted by a materialistic society. In the videotape he showed that he could speak to people, but that was something that people had not seen him do before. Shortly after entering Norris Hall carrying two semi-automatic handguns, a hammer and a knife he chained the main doors shut from the inside. He entered classrooms on the second floor and began shooting anyone in sight. The shooting ended when Cho shot him self in the head when he heard that the police had broke down the chains.
One must think that Cho did the shooting suddenly and had not planned it at all, but from evidence found in his dorm room, it was clear that he had been planning the assault on his fellow students and the faculty for quite some time. He was bullied as a kid and in college and suffered from severe anxiety disorder. He got help in high school, where he went to speech therapy and went to private counseling. His teachers at Virginia Tech didn’t do anything though they saw it in Cho’s behavior that there was something wrong with him, so he didn’t get the help he needed.
Cho’s mental illness

In middle school, Cho was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder, as well as major depressive disorder. People who suffer from that feel threatened in classroom. They feel trapped and the more people push, the more it exacerbates the anxiety. Their thinking, decisions making ability, learning and concentration get affected. They do not only experience fear, nervousness and shyness but also start avoiding places and activities. Cho didn’t talk much. Even in class when the teachers called roll he didn’t let them know he was present by saying ‘present’ or raise his hand, he just looked straight ahead. Someone else would have to tell the teacher that he was present. When people said ‘good morning’ or ‘hello’ when Cho showed up at class or at the schools’ hall, he didn’t respond at all, he just walked his way and didn’t look up. He really avoided communications. Two women students had complained in 2005 to the campus police at Virginia Tech about Cho that he was stalking them. According to the police he made contact with a female student through telephone calls and in person and later on he sent annoying messages to another woman. In one of his message he claimed that he had been rejected by a girl and talked about beating her up and that he was retarded, but in next message he said he was the coolest person in the world. Even Cho’s family noted that there was something not right about Cho. He didn’t make eye contact with people and used short one-word replies when he was asked questions. According to his grandfather he never called him grandfather and never moved to embrace or hug him.
Full of rage after being bullied

Because Cho immigrated to the U.S. he experienced a shock when he encountered racism and other forms of social injustice. His family had dream of a better life in the U.S. and the real life was nothing like the dream Cho had.
His fellow high school students bullied Cho. They mocked his shyness and the strange way he talked. In the classroom when the children were supposed to read aloud and it was Cho’s turn, he just stared at his table and didn’t say anything. Once the teacher threatened to give him failing grade for participation, he started to read in a strange, deep voice. As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying ‘Go back to China’, though he was from South Korea.
In the videotape that he sent to NBC news he mentions ‘’martyrs like Eric and Dylan’’ referring to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two boy’s that were the killers in the Columbine High School massacre after having been bullied. This led school violence experts to speculate that Cho was inspired by the attack and there certainly are similarities. He also say’s in the videotape ‘‘you had hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today. 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.’’ This shows that he wanted to tell the people that this massacre was their fault.

Cho needed help
Cho attended Westfield High School and there he was diagnosed with selective mutism, a social anxiety disorder that inhibited him from speaking. In his eighth-grade year his parents sought treatment for him through medication and therapy and in high school he was placed in special education under the ‘emotional disturbance’ classification. He didn’t have to participate in class conversation, instead he received 50 minutes a week of speech therapy. He continued to get this help until his junior year, when he decided himself that he didn’t need it anymore so he rejected further therapy. Virginia Tech didn’t have any idea of Cho’s record of disability or treatment because it was forbidden by law for the school to send it anywhere without Cho’s permission. During Cho’s last two years at Virginia Tech, there were several instances of his abnormal behavior that caused concern among teachers and classmates. He was writing cruel poems and plays that always ended by someone was killed in a cruel way. During the 2006 semester he wrote about a mass school murder that was planned by the protagonist of the story. The reactions were only that the teachers said to him that the plays were adolescent and silly. The classmates that read it joked sometimes that this were the type of guy who would walk into a classroom and start shooting people, which was the reality later. So instead of talking about the plays with someone that could have helped Cho, the kids just joked about his writing.
When it all came together at April 16th year 2007, his mental illness, the fact that he was bullied and he didn’t get the help he need, the outcome was a real tragedy. This tragedy is the Virginia Tech massacre.

Works cited
Anxiety disorder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder About Seung-Hui Cho http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seung-Hui_Cho About the massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre Chos’ stalking http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-449689/My-terror-stalked-campus-gunman.html Full of rage after being bullied http://susanrosenthal.com/articles/the-virginia-tech-massacre-cho-seung-hui-delivers-his-message