Virginia Tech Shooting

[cjwilhelmi]

BREAKING NEWS:

7 buildings were just evacuated at the U of Minensota because of a bomb threat.

WHO DOES THIS!?!?!?

We really don't need copycats.

We don't but that is what is going to happen. Individuals, like this shooter, are loners, they just want to be noticed. Think about all the media attention this guy has gotten since the event and how many times CNN has shown his picture. Other individuals see this type of attention and think that it can give their life meaning. That is why, at a School Counselor's Conference last year, we discussed playing down an individual who commits suicide, or someone who murders another student. As repulsive as the idea may be, there will be copycats from this for some time. They all want the same attention in order to fulfill some sort of self satisfaction.

[yourmom]

HE MAILED A PACKAGE IN BETWEEN SHOOTINGS TO THE NEWS STATIONS!!!!!!!

Sometime after he killed two people in a Virginia university dormitory but before he slaughtered 30 more in a classroom building Monday morning, Cho Seung-Hui mailed NBC News a large package, including photographs and videos, boasting that “when the time came, I did it. I had to.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18169776/

[More Cowbell]

you can watch the video on cnn.com...its pretty disturbing.

[Brent Burns]

R.I.P. Michael Pohle, Virginia Tech



Got this from CNN. There is even a video clip of Wolf Blitzer interviewing a female VT tech about Michael Pohle at cnn.com.

[Tim Gray]

Mike Pohle maybe former vt lax player died at the scene he loved playng the sport and was a worker at the nerv!

This is confirmed after I saw his name on the list of the deceased at Yahoo! I got an email from Rani with the Va Tech women's lacrosse club that Mike was not able to play this season because his schedule was busy. However, he did play lax last fall. My condolences to the Pohle family as well as to the Va Tech men's lacrosse team. Mike is from New Jersey.

http://www.collegelax.us/news.php?actio ... ws&id=1246

[Brent Burns]

There is a link where you can look at the pictures and about their lives. You can sign the guestbook there.

http://www.roanoke.com/vtvictimprofiles

[DanGenck]

I am disappointed that NBC decided to air those photos and videos. Now he has been sensationalized, and the cycle continues.

Could they have at least waited a few weeks? Months maybe?

[Gvlax]

I am disappointed that NBC decided to air those photos and videos. Now he has been sensationalized, and the cycle continues.

Could they have at least waited a few weeks? Months maybe?

I totally agree but NBC is still a company trying to make more money then the other news places. Its all about ratings. if they didnt release it you now that CNN or other news source would. Some how it would have been on youtube in a day or two. Nothing is kept locked down anymore.

I just fear the mass copycats that will happen now that people see how orchestrated this day really was. Someone is going to try and top this because of how much attention he has recieved.

[Adam Gamradt]

I'm not sure it's possible to over emphasis the news value of 32 people being murdered. The photos and video are newsworthy in that they give us a glimpse of this kids perspective, however disturbing.

Yes, publishing the pictures does give this guy a voice, but for every kid who thinks this guy is cool, there is probably 1000 others who think, guns are pretty stupid, and this guy is simply a coward.

[James Foote]

R.I.P. Michael Pohle, Virginia Tech



Got this from CNN. There is even a video clip of Wolf Blitzer interviewing a female VT tech about Michael Pohle at cnn.com.

Found this story on LaxPower:

Former Lacrosse Player Killed in Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Michael Pohle, a fifth-year student about ready to graduate, was reportedly one of the 32 killed in the recent tragic shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He was on Tech's MCLA (then MDIA) team's lacrosse roster for 2005-2006...

Cont'd

http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=6510

You can also watch Sean Simmons' discussion hosted by MSN.com:

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=c022eed4-5dc2-4327-b97b-146a00ceb3d2&f=00&fg=copy

[Sonny]

James,

This same story is already listed on the main CollegeLAX page:
http://www.collegelax.us/news.php?actio ... ws&id=1246
and mentioned above.

[Gooseguy10]

I'm not sure it's possible to over emphasis the news value of 32 people being murdered. The photos and video are newsworthy in that they give us a glimpse of this kids perspective, however disturbing.

Yes, publishing the pictures does give this guy a voice, but for every kid who thinks this guy is cool, there is probably 1000 others who think, guns are pretty stupid, and this guy is simply a coward.

Even if 99% of the public are totally outraged by this act, it only takes one nut to do something like this! For that one guy, news media sources have made this guy a poster boy of attention.

I think the U of M heard from that one percent with the bomb threat.

[SDSULAX]

Of course we had a mental giant at SDSU just do the same thing (bomb threat) yesterday, he was carted away by the FBI.

Edited 4-20-07, Actually it turns out that this was just a local idiot with no ties to SDSU making a threat against SDSU students and now he is looking at 2 years in prison for his misguided threat.

[Zeuslax]

I am disappointed that NBC decided to air those photos and videos. Now he has been sensationalized, and the cycle continues.

I couldn't agree more. While we have a right to the story, I think the media needs to come together on this issue and the way they approach the subject. Something needs to be done to take the sensationalism away from the person and the act. Is it really any surprise anymore that a person that would commit such a heinous act such as this is disturbed, mentally unstable, and has some social axe to grind? My problem is with the approach and tone that the media is taking with these shootings. I don't have any recommendations for the media, but they are being used as a conduit to further the action.

All secondary schools are on high alert. CMU is current locked down due to a suspicious package.

[peterwho]

Shouldn't a package, received coincidentally from the same location as the crime, potentially be evidence that should be handled as such?

Instead, it was opened and the contents copied before being turned over to the proper authorities.

I'm not a big fan of anyone in government determining who should and should not have access to information, however, they have shown a little more sensitivity (for example: previewing the material with the families prior to a release to the media/public) in the past.

I believe that would have been a better way of handling this.