Essay on Virginia Tech Shooting

This shooting was the worst in United States history, and it left families speechless and people in disarray. Two teens committed the treacherous actions of that day. The speculations were that they did this because of bullying, goth culture, or music or video games; these though were all just theories and were never proven(history). After this event, schools, venues, and events have endured grand security increases in the danger of shooters or other violence. Throughout my school days, I have wondered why we do the silly lock down drills at school, but in reality, lives could be saved in the event of an actual attack on my school. I realized this my eight grade year at Guntown Middle School. There was an unidentified man on campus, a code red lock down would amerce. I still remember sitting under my desk, shaking, and almost to tears. I did not want to be remembered as just another statistic if it was a shooter. But it had been our lucky day, the man who had stirred up all the commotion was just looking for the school’s office. Those fears I experienced however, would stay with me. We all believe that we are invincible and that it would never be us. However, with the world as it is today, no one is safe. I have been affected by the Columbine shooting through security changes in schools that I

On Tuesday, April 20 1999, Columbine High School located in Columbine Colorado an unfortunate massacre happened and many teens lost their lives. The two students responsible for this incident were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. These two senior students were responsible for killing twelve students and one teacher; they were also responsible for injuring an additional twenty one students on their rampage. A few other students were injured while trying to escape the school. Columbine is considered the fourth deadliest school massacre in history. It was said to be that there was not one target but everyone was a target on Eric and Dylan’s rampage through the high school

Mr. Cho Seung-Hui, a 23 year old South Korean student at Virginia tech shot 32 people and himself on April 16, 2007. This incidence of shooting has been claimed to be the deadliest shooting rampage in the history of America. During his childhood years, Cho began to show signs of mental health issues and had been identified of having "selective mutism." He had problem socializing with people and thus was known as a student who merely kept to himself. Ever since Middle School, Cho began to show violence in his writings and got the attention of the teachers. He was prescribed some medication and eventually symptoms of violent and aggressive behavior began to abate. Even though, teachers had reported Cho of having mental issues during his time at Virginia Tech; no such attention was paid to his odd behavior. Cho had quit taking his medicines that were prescribed earlier and thus he was not put through any medical intervention. In 2005, Cho had been identified as a dangerous person rendering him ineligible to purchase a gun under federal law. Despite all of that, he still managed to purchase two guns that were used in the Virginia shootings.

School shootings have become well known around the world due to the coverage by the media. . These shootings are a serious concern and have parents constantly concerned about their child’s safety when they are at school and also have students thinking twice about any unusual or suspicious behavior. The media appears to play a large part in school shootings and it is important to analyze the deviant behaviors of the shooters in these horrific instances and the fear they create in schools. Does the media play a large part in school shootings or does the media play a large part in the sensationalism of school shootings and the fear they create both in schools and with parents?

By this time Klebold and Harris had both taken their life and at least 75 police officers were surrounding Columbine High School. About two hours later, the SWAT team entered the east side of the building finding injured victims waiting for assistance. Teacher David Sanders was shot and had been bleeding for three hours before getting help (Kohn). “Sanders was the last of 15 people to die at Columbine that day. Twenty-three wounded were taken to hospitals. Six had brain or spinal injuries. Several nearly bled to death. Doctors at six hospitals worked on wounded children all through the night, and saved every one of them.” (Kohn).

On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old college student, shocked the nation when he perpetrated the deadliest shooting massacre in U.S. history. The violent rampage took place on the Virginia Tech University campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Cho was a senior majoring in English. Before turning the gun on himself and delivering a fatal gunshot to the head, Cho murdered more than 30 of his classmates and University faculty; numerous others were injured. In a strange twist, several days after the tragedy, a package determined to have been mailed by Cho during the shooting spree was received at NBC News in New York. The package contained photos of Cho posing with guns, as well as video clips and various pages of Cho’s writing.

Research in school shootings have been administered in many categories, including sociology, psychology, and etc. past studies, and direct later studies in school shootings, offers a sociology stand point for understanding the differences of school shooting incidents, including rampage shootings, mass murders shootings, and examining the mass media dynamic of school shootings; as well as presenting a combination of causes said in the research, including those on the individual, community, and social levels. Suggestions for studies in the future in school shootings are still yet to be explored.

In the United States mass shootings has been a problem for the last few years especially school shootings which occurs often in the country. Why in this country? Well statistics shows that the United States has 31% of all public mass shootings from 1966 to 2012. Although, the percentage has gone up for the last five years. There is a higher risk of dying at school than at any public places. The government and the president of the United States are not treating this problem right and it has become a phenomenon in the country. According to the blog “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother: A Mom’s Perspective On the Mental Illness Conversation In America” by Liza Long, she discusses her struggles with her mentally ill son and states the lack of help she was getting. She addresses the Sandy Hook incident in Newtown, Connecticut to relate it to her situation and how she fears her son might lead to murderous attack like the Sandy Hook shooting. Many of the causes that lead to school shootings are; lack of gun control, mental health & bullying, and definitely lack of protection at schools.

The incident occurred on Monday, April 16th 2007. Seung-Hui Cho was a 23 years old senior at Virginia Tech. He was born in South Korea and moved to America during his early childhood years. The shooting took in the form of two separate attacks on the campus. Cho was armed with a 9-millimeter handgun, a 22-caliber handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The first one took place at 7:15 in the morning, which he shot two people in a dorm. During the gap between the first attack and the second attack, Cho mailed a clip of video that contains rantings about wealthy “brat” and other topics and pictures of him wielding guns to NBC news. He then started his second attack. Cho chained and locked several main doors of an

The shootings that occurred at Kent State University, Ohio, on May 4, 1970 have been a dark spot in American history for almost 36 years. It is a day remembered by many names, THE KENT STATE SHOOTINGS, MAY 4 or the KENT STATE MASSACRE. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, all of America suffered.

The Boston Massacre and the killings that took place at Kent State University occured 200 year apart from each other, but there is a striking resemblance between the two events. It is evident that history repeats itself. Both of the events were brought on by tensions between the powers that be and the people, became so violent that officials were forced to take charge, and after tragedy occurred, no one suffered any consequences.

The shooters names were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. There are many different theories on why they did it. They were bullied, they were different, and some say they did it so they would just be remembered. “Klebold was hurting inside while Harris wanted to hurt people” says Dave Cullen who did an investigation trying to understand why two high schoolers could do such a thing. Dylan and Eric were a part of a trench coat mafia. They both had loving families, and were raised good. They wanted the shooting to be the “most deaths in United States history” and it would’ve been if their plan would have worked. They planted bombs in the cafeteria but they didn’t go off, they had a backup plan though. When they realized the bombs didn’t go off they grabbed their guns and headed into the school. If their bombs would’ve gone off it would’ve killed around six hundred people.

Cullen, Dave. “The Depressive and the Psychopath: The FBI’s Analysis of the Killers Motives” The Columbine Alamac (20 April 2004)

There is an assumption that if you understand the minds of serial killers, or persons who commit mass shootings, that it may help prevent mass shootings. “Mass shootings are not on the rise, but have held steady over three decades, randomly clustering in time to trick our brains into finding a pattern of increase where none actually exists” (Shermer 3). Mass shootings happen at varying times without rhyme or reason. Some think that a psychological disorder or some genetic defect could be the reason people commit these crimes. Although we cannot prevent mass shootings, we can educate on how mental health issues can be a precursor to such a tragedy, and how better laws can create a safer environment.

In the past decades there has been an increase of violence in the schools. This increase causes fear among students, teachers, parents, and all Americans. The deadliest act of school violence was the massacre at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, when a student opened fire and killed Thirty-two students and teachers while wounding seventeen. On April 16, 2007, Seung Hui Cho, opened fire on two students killing both of them. He then fled the building. Police responded to the first incident and determined it was an isolated homicide and that the gunman fled the state. Two hours later, Cho returned with two handguns and entered Norris hall which was filled with classrooms. He chained