Report Second Guesses Va. Tech Shooting Response

Now this is the kind of thing that gets people mad at the media. This article first says this:

Virginia Tech officials could have saved lives if they had quickly
warned the campus that two students had been shot to death and a killer was on
the loose, a panel that investigated the attacks said Thursday.

But right in the report it says this:

But the panel also concluded that a lockdown of the 131 buildings on
campus would not have been feasible. And while the first message sent by the
university could have gone out at least an hour earlier and been more specific,
Cho likely still would have found more people to kill, it said.

"There does not seem to be a plausible scenario of a university
response to the double homicide that could have prevented the tragedy of
considerable magnitude on April 16," the report said. "Cho had started on a
mission of fulfilling a fantasy of revenge."

They thought the killer left the campus (which he did to mail the package to the news media) so officials thought they were in the clear. They had no idea that he would come back, chain a door and start killing people. They were in a no-win situation. If they locked down the campus over a domestic dispute then there might have been chaos. So they tried to warn people as best they could and it came too late to save people. Even if most people heard there was a shooting in the dorms they still would have gone to class because it was so close to finals and people needed to review and get ready.

Even if they locked down the campus, Cho still would have shot up the dorms instead of those classrooms. He was a loaded weapon ready to go off. Nothing save killing him could have stopped him from shooting up the campus.

About the only thing they could have done is recognized that this guy was mentally ill and took steps to send him put into a mental institution or something. Even this tract was pinched off by privacy laws that prevented Va Tech from getting mental health records of a minor child (which he was when he had some of these thoughts.) Also you can't make this out to be a failure as well:

The university's counseling center failed to give Cho the support he
needed despite the warnings, including his referral to the center in 2005
because of bizarre behavior and concerns he was suicidal, the panel said. It
blamed a lack of resources, misinterpretation of privacy laws and passivity.

What does the Counselling Center have to do? Get an armed guard to escort him to the clinic? They can refer him all they want but they can't force anyone to go to counselling.

Some of the things that could have prevented Cho from killing those people could have been a better upbringing, less racially motivated bullying in high school, or maybe getting a girlfriend. I think if he had a girlfriend to understand him, reign in his behavior, listen to him bitch, and provide something for him to live for this tragedy might have been prevented.

I still think he killed that first girl, Emily Hilscher because he had a crush on her but was too weak and scared to make it known. So his weakness and fear manifested in violence that he used to make him feel strong and in control again.