TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: School Violence

  • Cho’s new paper

    Cho’s new paper

    Paper by Cho Exhibits Disturbing Parallels to Shootings, Sources Say:

    Details are being released that Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui had written a creative writing class paper that portrayed a student plotting a school shooting. However, in Cho’s paper, the gunman does not go through with his massacre.

    Cho wrote the paper for the “Intro to Short Fiction” class that he took in spring 2006, taught by Bob Hicok, an associate professor of English. The gunman described in Cho’s paper was in a high school. Cho, according to acquaintances and law enforcement sources, had expressed a fascination with the Columbine High School shootings while he was in middle school.

    Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be mutants.

    This paper, while not made public, is probably just as disjointed and as difficult to read as Cho’s “plays”.

    The reason this is making the news rounds now is that not all law enforcement agencies investigating the massacre had this paper in their possession.

    Several of the agencies probing the shootings had not been made aware of the paper’s existence, and the investigative panel appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine did not receive a copy until recently. The university was supposed to turn over all of Cho’s writings to the panel, but this paper was left out.

    Additionally, Virginia State Police officials, who also have a copy of the paper, said they could not give it to the panel under state law because it is part of the investigative file. Among the panel’s areas of inquiry is the sharing of information among state agencies.

    So, basically, what we have here is a failure to communicate. A law enforcement protocol did not allow the paper to be given to other law enforcement agencies and the investigative panel. The paper itself is probably just more of the nonsensical ramblings of a bitter, selfish, and cowardly loser who couldn’t handle the deal that life gave him.

  • Internal Virginia Tech review

    Internal Virginia Tech review

    Virginia Tech probe finds no fault in massacre response:

    An internal review by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, otherwise known as Virginia Tech, has assigned no blame to anyone for the school’s response on the day of the massacre.

    “We at Virginia Tech have been forever changed by the crimes of this severely disturbed young man,” Steger said during a news conference Wednesday. VideoWatch Steger announce the results »

    “He was determined to commit murder, planned the crime meticulously and managed to conceal his homicidal urges from all of law enforcement authorities, and the mental health experts who tried to help him and presumably from his own family,” Steger said.

    The report released Wednesday says there was good cooperation and sound agreements between Virginia Tech and local police. It also says that the campus communications system was “dramatically stressed,” but performed adequately during the crisis. The review recommends replacing the entire system.

    The report also goes on to state that the school needs to be more active in identifying “at risk” students like Cho. The thing is you’re never going to be able to find these students 100% of the time. Not only that, but I think these kinds of recommendations sound great after a tragedy like this happens, but in reality it’s just closing the barn door after the horses have gotten out.

  • Bulletproof Backpack Video

    Bulletproof Backpack Video

    I’ve already mentioned that I think the idea is profit through fearmongering, but am I the only one who thinks this video is distasteful?

    Your thoughts?

  • Rocori lawsuit settled

    Rocori lawsuit settled

    Latest news: Rocori settles shooting lawsuit:

    The Rocori school district in Minnesota and the parents of Rocori gunman John Jason McLaughlin have settled the lawsuit against them filed by the parents of McLaughlin’s victims, Aaron Rollins and Seth Bartell.

    The settlements, approved Monday night by the school board, call for the district’s insurance and the insurance of McLaughlin’s parents to pay $200,000 to the families of Aaron Rollins and Seth Bartell. The district, which is self-insured, will pay $133,333 of that amount, said Shamus O’Meara, the attorney representing the school district. None of the district’s portion of the settlement will come from district general funds, he said.

    The rest of the money will be paid by the McLaughlin’s insurer, O’Meara said.

    The civil lawsuits had been dismissed by a judge earlier this year, and the case had been appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The continuing expense of ongoing litigation led to the decision to settle with the families, O’Meara said.

    I doubt the Rollinses and the Bartells will find solace in the settlement.

  • No Cho rehearsal

    No Cho rehearsal

    Police doubt Virginia massacre was rehearsed:

    While various other sources are claiming that Cho Seung-Hui practiced his assault prior to the Virginia Tech massacre, police are saying different.

    “It would be speculation to suggest that he was practicing locking the doors,” State Police Superintendent Col. Steve Flaherty said in the first update on the investigation in months.

    “Why West Ambler-Johnston? Why Emily Hilscher? We don’t know,” Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said. Hilscher was one of Cho’s first victims, shot to death in her West Ambler-Johnston dormitory.

    Since the dormitory was locked early that morning, “we believe Cho waited for some unsuspecting individual to walk in or out of West Ambler-Johnston and then took the opportunity to enter the dorm,” Flinchum said.

    Investigators have not found the hard drive to Cho’s computers, Flaherty said. Video Watch new details on shooting investigation »

    “That’s a piece of evidence we would love to find, along with his cell phone and possibly some other documents,” he said.

    This is why I think the state panel looking into what happened at Virginia Tech is a joke. At the end of the investigation, they’ll have as many answers as the rest of us. None.

  • Platte Canyon report released

    Platte Canyon report released

    Bailey gunman fixated on porn, guns:

    The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has released their final report on the shooting at Platte Canyon High School. It turns out that gunman Duane Morrison was more disturbed than anyone ever thought.

    The basics are that Morrison was alleged to have been abused by his father, who told him that Morrison’s birth was due to an affair. Morrison was allegedly obsessed with pornography and phone sex, running up huge phone bills. More than likely, because of the phone bills, he was sought after by bill collectors.

    He told a girlfriend he was impotent due to medication but asked her to go to a strip club and porno store with him.

    Morrison allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old girl who worked for the Morrison family’s haunted house. The teen denies the allegations.

    After the siege at Platte Canyon, there were sexual devices found in Morrison’s backpack.

    Even at the age of 53, Morrison was in fear of his father due to the alleged abuse he suffered.

    Morrison also had an obsession with guns. One of the guns that he used at Platte Canyon High he claimed was stolen so he could collect insurance money.

    Now before anyone starts feeling sorry for this assclown, don’t. He brought all his issues upon himself. There comes a time in a man’s life that he needs to stop living in fear of his father, and 53 is way past that time.

    Emily Keyes is dead, and other girls were molested because this selfish scumbag couldn’t handle life’s responsibilities.

    He’ll get no sympathy here, and he shouldn’t get it anywhere else.

  • Supreme Judicial Court sides with Marshfield prosecutors

    Supreme Judicial Court sides with Marshfield prosecutors

    SJC rules that 9/11 terrorism law applies to Marshfield teens:

    Ten months after the trial of Tobin Kerns officially ended, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has finally ruled on the law that held up Tobins’ verdict.

    In a key victory for Plymouth prosecutors, the state’s high court outlined today how a new law aimed at terrorist conspiracies should apply to two teenagers charged with plotting a Columbine-style attack on Marshfield High School in 2004.

    In a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Judicial Court said the law was crafted to punish people who discuss violent attacks on public places or against individuals. The SJC said for someone to be convicted, prosecutors do not have to prove that the intended target somehow learns about the attack. The court said prosecutors cannot use evidence from co-conspirators to prove their case, but can draw on witnesses who learned about the threats. Today’s ruling is believed to be the first time the SJC provided guidance to judges on how to interpret the five-year-old statute.

    I hate to say it, but this does not bode well for Tobin. If any silver lining can be found in this black cloud is this ruling will apply to Joe Nee as well.

    No word yet when the judge will deliver Tobin’s verdict.

  • Kip Kinkel denied retrial

    Kip Kinkel denied retrial

    Springfield school killer denied new trial:

    Speaking of Kip Kinkel because you know we were, he has been denied a new trial.

    Kinkel claimed he was too mentally ill to agree to a plea bargain that sent him to prison for more than 111 years. But the judge disagreed.

    Kinkel argued his original defense attorneys and the trial judge should have ordered a mental competency evaluation before going ahead with the plea bargain.

    But a lawyer for the attorney general’s office argued during a two-day hearing in June that Kinkel understood what was happening and was intelligent enough to calculate that his best chance for a reduced sentence was the plea deal.

    Thank God for a responsible judge for once.

    (Trench’s Note: I had this written up early yesterday but took the night off. Still, thanks to D.P. for thinking of me. 🙂 )

  • Chanthabouly fit to stand trial

    Chanthabouly fit to stand trial

    Teen declared fit for trial in Foss shooting:

    The last we heard anything about the shooting at Foss High in Washington State, gunman Douglas S. Chanthabouly was ordered to undergo a psych exam.

    A psychiatrist there reported last month that the teen suffers from psychosis, and prescribed a battery of drugs to treat it, according to court documents.

    So a judge has ruled that Chanthabouly is fit to stand trial.

    Of course, his defense team will still more than likely be pursuing an insanity defense.

    A psychiatrist hired by the defense has diagnosed Chanthabouly with a “major mental disorder,” John McNeish, one of the two public defenders assigned to represent the teenager, told Superior Court Judge Ronald Culpepper during a hearing.

    McNeish did not say from what mental disease his client suffers or what the possible mental defense would be.

    They haven’t picked out their mental disease yet.

    To successfully argue insanity, his lawyers would have to convince a judge that Chanthabouly didn’t know the difference between right or wrong or couldn’t perceive the nature and quality of what he was doing when Kok was shot.

    Good luck with that.

  • Hainstock sentenced

    Hainstock sentenced

    Hainstock Sentenced To Life In Prison But With Parole Possibilities:

    Eric Hainstock has been sentenced to life behind bars with the possibility of parole in 30 years for the shooting death of Weston Schools principal John Klang.

    Judge Patrick Taggart said that he considered Hainstock’s age and background before sentencing. He said that he believes the teen can be rehabilitated, WISC-TV reported.

    Defense attorneys had requested parole eligibility after 20 years while the state had requested 49 years with the date of eligibility being Sept.29, 2056 — or 50 years after the shooting at Weston Schools, WISC-TV reported.

    The jurors who convicted Hainstock said that they focused on the guns and ammunition that he brought to school and the number of shots fired in determining his intent to murder.

    Juror Brian Ludolph, of Prairie du Sac, said on Friday the fact numerous shots were fired by Hainstock convinced them the student intended to kill Klang. Ludolph said that Hainstock bringing the guns and ammunition to school also played into their finding of intent.

    Juror Diana Mielke, of North Freedom, said that the jury was initially split on whether Hainstock intended to kill Klang.

    Mielke said that she was initially among the six who thought Hainstock didn’t have intent to kill, but changed her mind after recalling Hainstock’s lack of emotion during the trial.

    Thankfully, there was a jury with common sense who recognized Hainstock’s intent and weren’t fooled by his lies.

    Justice has been served.

    While you’re at WISC’s website, take the poll and let them know how you feel about the verdict and sentence. You can probably guess how I voted.