Police say toxicology tests show no drugs in Seung-Hui Cho’s system:
According to the Virginia State Police, the toxicology test performed on Cho Seung-Hui revealed that there were no drugs, prescription or otherwise, in his system. I doubt that will silence the Luddites though, who claim that antidepressants are responsible for every single school shooting.
The autopsy confirmed that Cho did, in fact, take the coward’s way out by shooting himself in the head.
Va. Tech Shooter Seen as ‘Collector of Injustice’:
The feds have finally released their assessment of Cho Seung-Hui, and it’s nothing really surprising.
Federal agents investigating the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech think Seung Hui Cho displayed many of the same characteristics of a criminal behavioral profile called the “Collector of Injustice,” or someone who considers any misfortune against him the fault or responsibility of others.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also think Cho mentally and physically tried to transform himself into an alter ego he called “Ax Ishmael” before his rampage.
Investigators think “Ax Ishmael” is based on the biblical figure Ishmael, the son of Hagar, a maidservant to Sarah, and the prophet Abraham. Ishmael lived as an outcast, and his brother Isaac was favored. Writings that Cho left in his dorm room, sent to the Virginia Tech English Department and mailed to NBC reveal twisted references to religion as part of his identity.
“It is always someone else’s fault, and the world is out to get them,” Bart McEntire, the resident agent in charge of the ATF’s Roanoke office, said in describing people who fit the profile. Eventually, the person’s compilation of wrongs becomes overloaded, and he lashes out violently to right them and get even with those who he believes have caused him misfortune and ridicule.
The manifesto that Cho left in his dorm room, with other writings that investigators have studied, indicate that Cho believed that people had no respect for him or others he perceived were like him, and that he planned to do something about it. In one writing, he warned: “Kill yourselves or you will never know how the dorky kid that [you] publicly humiliated and spat on will come behind you and slash your throats. . . . Kill yourselves or you will never know the hour the little kid will come with hundreds of rounds of ammunition on his back to shoot you down.”
In another, he sarcastically thanked everyone who had treated him as a “filthy street dog” and an “ugly, little, retarded, low-life kid.”
Cho, 23, of Centreville, whose family was religious and had sought help for him from a Woodbridge church, repeatedly made religious references. He said that he had been “crucified” and that, as with Jesus, his actions would set people free. He called himself a “martyr” who would “sacrifice” his life. He wrote that he would go down in history as the “Jesus Christ of the Weak and Defenseless.” He thought his actions would inspire others to fight back and get even.
Among the writings, Cho included three pictures of himself, which investigators think show how his self-image progressed. In the first picture, he is smiling. In the next, his arms are outstretched like Jesus’s on the cross. And in the third, his arms are crossed as if he is lying dead in a coffin, agents said.
As part of his physical transformation, investigators have said, he methodically bought weapons and clothes for his killing spree. They have documented his purchases in detail, from the cargo pants he wore in Norris Hall to the hundreds of rounds of ammunition he carried and his visits to a nearby firing range.
When he was ready, he wrote: “I am Ax Ishmael.”
Police have not discovered why he uses the word “Ax,” but his writings suggest he identified with Ishmael. According to some religious scholars, Ishmael held his brothers in contempt, despised the rituals of society and considered himself to be free of social control.
The writings also reveal that Cho had decided to strike out against those who had committed what he perceived were injustices against him: “I say we take up the cross, Children of Ishmael, take up our guns and knives . . . and take no prisoners and spare no lives.”
What a self-absorbed little prick. Comparing himself to Jesus Christ is the ultimate in arrogance. Christ didn’t have to kill anybody to get his message across. You were no Christ. You were no prophet. You are no martyr. You were no avenging angel. You were the world’s greatest coward, and in time your name will be forgotten, and you’ll be nothing more than a footnote in history.
Yes, I’ve heard about the Virginia Tech game where you get to play as Cho Seung-Hui. I haven’t played it yet, but I have the feeling I’m not going to be as outraged about it as I was about SCMRPG.
It’s a flash-based game hosted at the bastion of bad taste that is Newgrounds.
I get the feeling that it’s just some guy being an ass rather than some guy being an ass claiming he’s making an artistic statement.
Cho Didn’t Get Court-Ordered Treatment:
With the failure of Cho Seung-Hui getting his court-ordered psychiatric treatment, all parties involved are busy playing the blame game.
“The system doesn’t work well,” said Tom Diggs, executive director of the Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, which has been studying the state mental health system and will report to the General Assembly next year.
Involuntary outpatient commitments are relatively uncommon in Virginia, officials said, because those in the system know they are not enforced. They are almost an act of faith.
“When I let the person go outpatient, I always put on the record, ‘I hope I don’t read about you tomorrow in the paper. . . . Don’t make me look like the foolish judge that could have stopped you,’ ” said Lori Rallison, a special justice in Prince William County. “And knock wood, that hasn’t happened. But it can.”
Cho’s case is a classic example of some of the flaws in the outpatient treatment system.
Ya think?
Cho, they said, slipped through a porous mental health system that suffers from muddled, seldom-enforced laws and inconsistent practices. Special justices who oversee hearings such as the one for Cho said they know that some people they have ordered into treatment have not gotten it. They find out when the person “does something crazy again,” in the words of one justice — when they are brought back into court because they are considered in imminent danger of harming themselves or others.
So if you’re dangerously crazy in Virginia you get a free pass, it seems like.
A day later, on Dec. 14, 2005, Paul M. Barnett, the special judge, decided that Cho was an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness and ordered him into involuntary outpatient treatment. It is a practice that Terry W. Teel, Cho’s court-appointed lawyer and a special judge himself, said they use “all the time” in Blacksburg. Special justices such as Barnett are lawyers with some expertise and training who are appointed by the jurisdiction’s chief judge.
Teel said he does not remember Cho or the details of his case. But he said Cho most likely would have been ordered to seek treatment at Virginia Tech’s Cook Counseling Center. “I don’t remember 100 percent if that’s where he was directed,” Teel said. “But nine times out of 10, that’s where he would be.”
And there, he said, ended the court’s responsibility. The court doesn’t follow up, he said. “We have no authority.”
And why doesn’t the court have authority? They’re ‘the court’ for crying out loud. If they don’t have the authority, who does?
That night, Cho e-mailed a roommate saying he might as well kill himself. The roommate contacted police, who brought Cho to the New River Valley Community Services Board, the government mental health agency that serves Blacksburg.
There, Kathy Godbey examined Cho and found he was “mentally ill and in need of hospitalization,” according to court papers. That was enough to have Cho temporarily detained at Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health Clinic in Christiansburg, a few miles from campus, until a special justice could review his case in a commitment hearing.
New River Valley’s Mike Wade maintained that the community services board’s responsibility ended there.
I see a lot of responsibility ending, but no responsibility taking. How come no one saw this huge gap in responsibility before? Why did it have to take the deaths of 32 innocent victims?
“When a court gives a mandatory order that someone get outpatient treatment, that order is to the individual, not an agency,” said Christopher Flynn, director of the Cook Counseling Center. The one responsible for ensuring that the mentally ill person receives help in these sorts of cases, he said, is the mentally ill person. “I’ve never seen someone delivered to me with an order that says, ‘This person has been discharged; he’s now your responsibility.’ That doesn’t happen.”
Virginia law says community services boards — the local agencies responsible for a range of mental health services — “shall recommend a specific course of treatment and programs” for people such as Cho who are ordered to receive outpatient treatment. The law also says these boards “shall monitor the person’s compliance.”
When read those portions of the statute, Wade said, “That’s news to us.”
Oh, that’s just great. The people running the mental health agencies don’t even know the law.
I’m not saying that forced treatment would or wouldn’t have stopped a madman like Cho Seung-Hui, but we’ll never know until someone tries.
Ever since the day after Virginia Tech, we’ve heard nothing but how they need to close the loophole in the gun laws. It wasn’t until 3 weeks later that someone besides me was talking about shoring up the mental health laws. That’s just sad.
I think the problem is that we’re too worried about people being offended. You can’t lock a crazy person up because they might get offended. I’d rather have a crazy person with hurt feelings than a mass of bodies.
Isolation Defined Cho’s Senior Year:
This article is mostly about Cho Seung-Hui’s self-imposed isolation and how his mother tried to get him help from various church congregations in Virginia.
What caught my eye in the article is a tiny blurb about why he more than likely chose Norris Hall for the site of his cowardly rampage.
What Cho was thinking remains a mystery; so many who knew him say they never heard him speak until the video he mailed to NBC News was aired on television. One clue exists in Cho’s final selection of courses. He was taking a sociology class called Deviant Behavior, according to interviews. The class met on the second floor of Norris Hall, where most of the shootings occurred.
Basically, familiarity bred contempt.
EXCLUSIVE: Va.Tech Gunman Ordered to Get Treatment at On-Campus Facility, Lawyer Says:
The other day I asked if Cho Seung-Hui was court ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment, why did no one from the court follow-up to make sure he was attending said treatments. It turns out that no one was required to.
With no agency responsible for checking up on court-ordered psychiatric care, it is unclear whether Cho showed up for treatment or received care at another facility. As is standard practice for Montgomery County, the court would have sent Cho to the eligible provider nearest to his home. Cook Counseling center, which is located a few buildings away from Cho’s senior-year dorm, is funded by student health fees and provides care to those enrolled at Virginia Tech.
Now, I’m not trying to blame anyone but Cho for the massacre, but it seems that Virginia has another loophole they may want to close.
What’s the point of court ordering someone for psychiatric treatment if there are no repercussions for not following those orders?
How Not to be A Cho Seung Hui:
Normally, I don’t like to link to political sites on this blog from either side of the aisle. However, I just couldn’t pass up this commentary from Doug Giles at Townhall.com about how you can avoid being the next Cho Seung-Hui. I’ll just give you a little taste.
The video left by Cho affords great insight into this sick gnat’s psyche, which provides us with a good blueprint on how not to become twisted and pathetic. Three principle evils repeatedly showed up in this petty ninja turtles video montage.
It’s worth your time to read the entire article.
Cho Seung-Hui’s Commitment Papers:
For those of you who are into every minute detail, no matter how insignificant it may be, Slate now has the commitment papers of Cho Seung-Hui.
I didn’t find the papers themselves very interesting, but rather what was in the article that accompanied it.
The patient exercised his right to counsel by court-appointed attorney Terry W. Teel (see Page 2), and his case was considered and decided by Special Justice and Guardian Ad Litem Paul M. Barnett. Justice Barnett found that although Cho presented “an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness,” there were suitable “alternatives to involuntary hospitalization” available. Cho was ordered instead to get outpatient treatments (see Page 5). No record has been found to confirm whether Cho, who killed 32 people and himself on April 16, ever sought or received the court-ordered treatment.
Just a few quick questions here. If Cho presented an imminent danger to himself, why was he not committed? Doesn’t imminent mean inevitable and immediate? Since the court ordered him to attend outpatient treatments, was the court supposed to follow up to make sure he was attending? Isn’t that what court-ordered means?
This is an editorial from the Tuft’s University student paper in response to this editorial that claims that Virginia Tech mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui was a “victim”.
The truth is society is not perfect and it never will be. Who among us has not felt isolated from his or her peers at some point in life? Yet we do not respond with violent rage. This is not how a human being is supposed to act. The individual decision to murder cannot be excused as a result from reality not always being a happy, jolly place. What happened at Virginia Tech was an act of monstrous insanity.
The only person who can be blamed for Cho Seung-Hui’s violent outburst is Seung-Hui. This is a time to remember the lives of 32 people whose lives were taken away far too soon. The 33rd “victim,” which is what Gunturi refers to Seung-Hui as, should be remembered as the one who took the others’ lives.
Finally, she argues, “Let us not allow Cho’s death to be in vain.” But very idea that we can take anything positive from this man’s life on Earth is ludicrous. He was a horrible person and the world is a better place without him.
Amen brother. It’s just such a waste that the loser had to take 32 innocent victims with him.
How’s this for pathetic? According to the article, Cho Seung-Hui couldn’t even get laid by a hooker…
Chastity Frye says she spent an hour, all alone, with Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui last month.
Frye said “He was so quiet, I really couldn’t get much from him, he was so distant, he really didn’t talk a lot. It seemed like he wasn’t all there.”
Frye works for an escort service. She says, Cho hired her, and the two met at a Valley View motel.
She says “I danced for a little while and I thought we were done because he got up and went to the restroom and began washing. And I said, ‘well, do you want me to go? I’m going to go ahead and go’. And he’s like, ‘I paid for the full hour, you’ve only been here for 15 minutes,’ and then he came back in the room. And I started dancing and that’s when he you know, touched me and tried to get on me and that’s when I pushed him away.”
When Chastity Frye saw the news about Cho last week, she thought she recognized him. Then, she says, FBI agents questioned her this weekend. Frye says they tracked her down through Cho’s credit card receipt.
Frye said “I don’t know what to think. I’m just very grateful that nothing happened then. Sometimes I wonder if I could have said something or done something differently or maybe talk to him a little bit more [but] you know, get him to open up? Right. But I wasn’t thinking about that at the time. I was thinking, he was creeping me out, I was thinking about getting out of there.”
My dad had a saying for guys like Cho. He would say, “That guy couldn’t get laid in a whore house with a stack of twenties.” And here I thought that was just an expression.
Thanks to BelchSpeak for the link.