TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: School Violence

  • VT Shooter identified

    VT Shooter identified

    Va. Tech Gunman Named:

    Short article…

    Virginia Tech officials today identified the Virginia Tech student who killed 32 people and then himself on the Blacksburg campus yesterday as 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui of Centreville.

    Cho was a South Korean native who had immigrated to this country, the university announced on its Web site this morning. He was a senior majoring in English, and lived in a dorm on campus, officials said.

    Last night while I was on Shaun OMac Radio. I said that the gunman was from China, as it was reported that his student visa was issued in Shanghai.

    I will be on Shaun OMac Radio again tonight at 9:30 ET.

    Last night’s show can be heard below.

    (It’s long since been deleted.)

  • Virginia Tech shootings

    Virginia Tech shootings

    I know everyone is expecting me to post about the shootings at Virginia Tech. To be honest with you all, I just returned from a week’s vacation without internet access. I still have a lot of e-mail to catch up on and a lot of information to process. But I will be posting about it.

    Also, I’m hoping to be a guest again on Shaun OMac Radio tonight at 9:30 ET to discuss the VT shootings.

  • Bartley pleads guilty and is sentenced

    Bartley pleads guilty and is sentenced

    Boy agrees to 45 years in school killing:

    15-year-old Kenneth Bartley Jr., the gunman in the Campbell County High shooting, has pleaded guilty to the murder of Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and the attempted murders of Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce.

    Bartley was sentenced to 45 years in prison on a charge of second-degree murder and two charges of second degree attempted murder. Bartley was looking at life sentences if he went to trial.

    Personally, I’m pleased with the sentence. I feel that justice has been done.

  • Odgren may recover memory

    Odgren may recover memory

    Lawyer Says Teen Charged In School Killing May Recover Memory:

    Now that he’s been ruled competent to stand trial, John Odgren’s attorney is saying that Odgren’s memory of the murder of James Alenson may return.

    Jonathan Shapiro now tells “The Boston Globe” that the extent and permanence of Odgren’s amnesia is unclear. Last Monday he withdrew a request for a mental competency hearing.

    This is after prosecutors planned to hire their own psychologist to do a comprehensive examination that would give them access to all of Odgren’s medical and psychiatric records.

    It’s funny how things work out that way.

  • Sealed depositions may end study

    Sealed depositions may end study

    Sealed depositions may be end of Columbine study:

    Read the words of one Professor Del Elliott, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado.

    Professor Del Elliott said Tuesday he doubts he will undertake a study into the causes behind the Columbine High School shootings now that depositions of the killers’ parents have been sealed.

    In the meantime, the nationally recognized expert on violence prevention said he expects the ruling will translate into more lives lost.

    “We’ve not had a chance to learn much about was going on in the lives of (killers) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold that precipitated this event,” he said.

    “Unfortunately, it’s going to be repeated,” he added, “and maybe then we’ll learn more about the circumstances which lead young people to commit these kinds of horrendous acts.”

    I hope you’re paying attention, Judge Lewis Babcock. I hope that robe can help you clean the blood of future victims off your hands.

  • Castillo e-mail probably inadmissible as well

    Castillo e-mail probably inadmissible as well

    Castillo e-mail can’t be linked:

    Just a follow-up to yesterday’s post about the computer evidence being suppressed in the Alvaro Castillo proceedings. Since the computers were ruled inadmissible, the e-mail that Castillo sent to Columbine High School Principal Frank DeAngelis cannot be linked to Castillo.

    Again, the videos should be all the prosecution needs.

  • Columbine depositions to remain sealed

    Columbine depositions to remain sealed

    Columbine depositions to stay sealed:

    U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock has done the unthinkable and ruled that the depositions from the Columbine killers’ parents will remain sealed for 20 years in the National Archives, where they will do no one any good whatsoever.

    Judge Babcock claimed copycat fears as to why he ordered the documents to remain sealed. I hate to tell you this Judge but sending the depositions to the National Archives will not stem the tide of copycats. This website is a testament to that. Those documents might have actually prevented copycats, but we won’t know that until I’m 58.

    The fact that he wouldn’t even let a state Attorney General and a recommended violence expert look at them smacks of a cover-up.

    Brian Rohrbough, the father of slain student Daniel Rohrbough, is justifiably angered and is considering an appeal.

  • Michelle Dohm found guilty

    Michelle Dohm found guilty

    Teacher Found Guilty Of Making Bomb Threats To Students:

    Michelle Dohm is the teacher from Frederick, Maryland who was accused of making bomb threats to some of the students from her school.

    Today, she was found guilty of making those threats. I urge you to go through the archives to see just how bizarre this case really was.

    Sentencing is set for June 26th.

  • Evidence suppressed in Castillo case

    Evidence suppressed in Castillo case

    Hearing Held for Suspected Teen Killer:

    The computers seized from the house of Alvaro Rafael Castillo have been ruled inadmissible as evidence. The defense argued that the computers were not listed as part of the search warrant, and the judge agreed. Prosecutors aren’t too worried though, saying there wasn’t much evidence on the computers. Not only that, but considering he basically confessed on videotape to killing his father before sending the tapes to the media, I wouldn’t be worried either.

    The next hearing is set for April 25th where Castillo will probably learn if he’s facing the death penalty or not.

  • Organ donation fund named after Platte Canyon victim

    Organ donation fund named after Platte Canyon victim

    Keyes’ organ donation legacy gets signed into law:

    The governor of Colorado signed a bill into law yesterday that extended the state’s organ donation project for another 10 years.

    The law also named the program the Emily Keyes Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Fund after the only fatal victim in the Platte Canyon High School shooting. According to the article, her donated corneas restored the sight of a man in my own state of North Carolina.

    At least something good was able to come out of a pointless tragedy.