It seems to happen every so often. A school in a small town falls victim to the terrible tragedy of a shooting. It seems, more often than not, when the shooter is identified, stories surface regarding the odd behavior of that person. People speak out about how the shooter had odd obsessions, a dark side, made obscene comments that made people feel uncomfortable, was a loner, etc. Sadly, this time, Virginia Tech was the victim and the only difference was that this time, 33 people were killed, making this shooting the largest in United States history.
A resident assistant and also a member of the marching band, a German professor who oversaw an exchange program, a professor of engineering science and mechanics, an international studies and French major from Westtown, N.Y., an animal lover who worked at a veterinarian's office and majored in animal and poultry sciences, a Holocaust survivor who heroically blocked gunfire from his students, and a member of Virginia Tech's Contemporary Dance Ensemble were just a few of the 32 victims that were killed by shooter, and English major at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hui.
A lot of criticism is falling upon Virginia Tech, and the local law enforcement of Blacksburg. At approximately 7:15 A.M. on April 16th, a shooting took place in a dorm on campus that took the lives of two students. Police rushed to the scene, and at that point, felt the shooting was an isolated incident and believed the shooter had fled the campus. While police continued to investigate the incident, classes were not cancelled, the campus was not placed under lockdown, and many students both on campus and commuting to school were not even aware of what had happened. Two hours later, the shooter began again in a classroom building. Students who attempted to flee found that some of the doors in the building were chained shut, not allowing them to leave. The massacre finally ended when the shooter turned the gun on himself. It was during the time of the second shooting that students received notice in their emails that a shooting had taken place, and they should remain wherever they were until further notice.
Unfortunately Virginia Tech is guilty of what many of us are guilty of, and that is, not taking action at the proper time. Not only could the school have been placed under lockdown immediately following the first shooting, not allowing for Cho Seung-Hui to continue on with his rampage, but something could have, and should have been done prior, during the years of suspicious and odd behavior that took place from this troubled student. At what point will we learn that more needs to be done to keep our children and ourselves safe? Set procedures need to be developed for every college, school, business, and building in case something does occur. Had students been notified two hours prior to the second shooting in a Virginia Tech classroom, perhaps students would have been able to secure themselves in their classrooms, or perhaps never have been able to enter the campus, not allowing for them to even be near the classrooms where and when this tragedy took place.
Sadly enough, nothing can be done now to replace the lives that were lost and nobody can go back in time to protect the students and faculty of Virginia Tech better. However, how many times can we let the same type of tragedy take place, in the same types of situations? There have been over 30 school shootings worldwide in the past 10 years alone, and while not all of them involved a current student as the shooter, many of them have, including the second deadliest shooting in U.S. history, the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, CO where 15 people were killed, and 23 others were wounded by two of their fellow classmates. Those two students had been described the same way the most recent school shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, has been described. When will we learn that something needs to be done about these students that are obviously screaming for attention for quite some time before they finally crumble and go off on a killing rampage? These students are ignored and no action takes place for so long, that they are given the time and opportunities to plan such mass killings, taking the lives of such promising and intelligent young individuals.
When will we learn, that some kind of precautions need to take place whenever an incident occurs in a public place to ensure that everyone on the premises is safe and aware of what is going on? I'm sure there would be many times when too much caution is placed on a situation that may not be as deadly as the April 16th shooting at Virginia Tech, but is there really any harm in being overly cautious? The parents and loved ones of those who were lost at Virginia Tech would have possibly been spared such heartache and grief had such precautions taken place
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