Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre occurred on April 16, 2007, and stands as the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, with a total of 32 victims—27 students and 5 faculty members—dying at the hands of Seung-Hui Cho, a student of the university. The tragic events unfolded in two locations on campus: the West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory and Norris Hall, where Cho executed his rampage using multiple firearms. Initial police responses treated the first shooting as an isolated incident, leading to a significant delay in alerting the campus community about the danger, which contributed to the high number of casualties.
In the aftermath, the university's response came under scrutiny, prompting a review that revealed failures in communication and emergency protocols. Cho had a history of mental health issues and had previously been flagged for concerning behavior, yet he was able to legally acquire firearms. Following the massacre, Virginia Tech and the state faced legal repercussions, including a significant settlement for the victims' families and subsequent changes in laws regarding mental health evaluations and gun control measures. The event profoundly impacted campus safety policies across the nation, leading many institutions to reevaluate their emergency preparedness and mental health support systems to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Virginia Tech massacre
The Event: A shooting rampage at the Virginia Tech college campus that left thirty-three people dead
Date: April 16, 2007
Place: Blacksburg, Virginia
The shooting at Virginia Tech was the deadliest rampage by a single shooter in US history. Seung-Hui Cho, a student at the university, killed twenty-seven of his fellow students and five faculty members before committing suicide. At least seventeen others were injured in the shooting.
The massacre at Virginia Tech began in the early hours of Monday, April 16, 2007. Around 7:00 a.m., senior English major Seung-Hui Cho entered West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory, armed with several firearms. Cho encountered Emily Hilscher, a freshman who lived in the dormitory, and killed her. Resident assistant Ryan Clark went to investigate noise when he encountered Cho, who shot and killed Clark before fleeing the building.
Fifteen minutes later, police responded to a 911 call about the shootings. Police believed the shootings at the dormitory were an isolated incident. They secured the location and began their investigation. By 8:00 a.m., students were headed to class, but campus officials had not yet informed them about the killings that had occurred at the dorm.
Meanwhile, Cho briefly returned to his dormitory. He then stopped at the post office to mail a package and proceeded to Norris Hall, a building housing numerous classrooms, carrying two handguns and a bag of ammunition.
Around 9:30 a.m., campus officials sent out an e-mail notifying students about the first shooting. More than two hours after the first incident, another shooting continued on the second floor of Norris Hall. Police responded to a 911 call about the shooting around 9:45 a.m. When they arrived at the building, they found the doors chained shut from the inside. The police broke into the building and followed the sounds of gunfire to the second floor, where they found that Cho had committed suicide. Before taking his own life, Cho had killed more than thirty people. It was not until after the second shooting that campus officials sent out e-mails announcing the cancellation of classes, and warning students to stay indoors.
The following day, NBC News received a package from Cho that included videos and a statement in which he claimed he was forced into his actions.
Warning Signs
After the massacre, it was revealed that mental health professionals had deemed Cho a potential threat to himself due to signs of psychological illness. Almost two years prior, Cho was evaluated by a psychiatric hospital after several female classmates told police they had received unsettling messages from him, and another classmate suggested Cho was suicidal. However, he was not deemed a threat to others at the time. It was recommended that Cho seek counseling on an outpatient basis.
Around this time, author Nikki Giovanni, a teacher at Virginia Tech, asked that Cho be removed from her poetry class after he turned in disturbing writings. Classmates accused him of secretly taking pictures of them. Lucinda Roy, then a director of the creative writing department, started teaching Cho one-on-one. She too found Cho’s writings upsetting, and she contacted campus police and university administrators. However, because Cho did not make any explicit threats, no official reports were filed. Cho passed a criminal background check and purchased two guns early in 2007.
Aftermath
Virginia Tech officials were widely criticized for their response to the shootings. After the massacre, a review panel was convened to assess the actions taken by the university in response to the shootings. The report showed that the university failed to alert students that there was a shooter on campus for more than two hours. It determined the university’s reaction to the first shooting contributed to the loss of life in the second shooting. Virginia Tech, along with the state government, paid an $11.1 million settlement to the families of the victims. The university also made major renovations to the buildings where the shootings occurred, upgraded the campus security program, and set up an online Office of Emergency Management.
In 2012 a jury found that the Commonwealth of Virginia was liable in a wrongful death civil suit brought by the families of two students killed in the massacre and consequently awarded each of the two families $4 million. (The families had not taken part in the 2008 $11.1 million settlement.) The commonwealth appealed the decision and in October 2013 the Virginia state supreme court reversed the wrongful-death finding, saying that neither Virginia Tech officials nor the commonwealth could not have foreseen further violence from Cho after the initial attack, and therefore were not negligent in failing to protect the students.
Impact
The tragedy of the Virginia Tech massacre caused colleges and universities across the United States to reassess their safety systems and review existing programs for helping students with mental illnesses. After a state panel investigated the incident, a law was passed requiring Virginia’s public universities to set up teams to examine students’ medical, criminal, and academic records to assess possible threats. The state’s private universities were exempted from the law, but many set up similar teams in the effort to prevent future acts of violence.
The Virginia Tech shootings also led to a change in gun-control laws. In 2008, President George W. Bush signed legislation that would provide incentives for states to report mentally ill and other potentially dangerous individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, an FBI database used to determine whether a person should be barred from purchasing a firearm.
Bibliography
Carter, Shan, et al. “Deadly Rampage at Virginia Tech.” New York Times. New York Times, 23 Apr. 2007. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
Chen Sampson, Zinie. “5 Years after the Virginia Tech Massacre, Colleges Gauge Threats.” Huffington Post. HuffingtonPost.com, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
Du Lac, J. Freedom. “A Massacre’s Survivors: Recovery and Resilience at Va. Tech.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
“Killer’s Manifesto: ‘You Forced Me into a Corner.’” CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Apr. 2007. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
Lipka, Sara. "Virginia Tech Was Not Negligent, State Supreme Court Rules." Chronicle of Higher Education 60.11 (2013): A21–A22. Education Research Complete. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.
Potter, Ned. “Va. Tech Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go after Hospital Visit.” ABC News. ABC News Internet Ventures, 18 Apr. 2007. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
Roy, Lucinda. No Right to Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech. New York: Crown, 2009. Print.