Addendum: I have one point to make about the jealous rage angle: why leave the AJ Dorm with 900 people basically asleep in their beds and easy prey and go to Norris Hall 2 hours later? There are some reasons I can think of – guilt, fear, facing the unavoidable fate of a murderer – but he was in a dorm full of people and he did nothing at that time. Food for thought.

It seems the Massacre at VA Tech (where I went to school briefly) was premeditated. The reasons are clear in the latest reports. First off the man took a gun to confront his girlfriend, who was more than likely trying to get out of sufficating relationship (I have seen this pattern before, but with less violent results). When he did not get what he wanted and an RA came to deal with the commotion the man pulled his gun and killed the girlfriend and RA. This means the man planned the confrontation and brought the gun with him.

The second act was also premeditated since the man came with guns and clips and the ability to chain the doors (when I was there there were no chains even wrapped on the doors to close them). Finally there is reporting that the bomb threats in the prior weeks were tests of the response time of the authorities. Combined with the news the man was a 24 year old from China shows a combination of military training (not OUR military lefties) and planning.

What really worries me is if this was a test for other attacks. If the man was testing College responses then the key would be to make this look like anything BUT a terrorist attack. I am not making the claim here this was terrorist related, but the man did not seem to be looking for his girlfriend’s lover, he seemed to be out trying to kill anyone he ran across. A perfect diversion for a test run would be a lover’s quarrel. And ending it in a ‘suicide’ negates the ability to get to the bottom of his motives. Of course violent jealousy is not uncommon, and more so in male dominated societies like those in Asia and the ME. In those places killing women is like throwing away property. But something is not right here. For someone who was in the emotional throws of jealousy, the attack shows signs of careful planning and cold execution. The two characteristics do not mix. Careful planning and cool execution implies a lot of self control and discipline, things which are in complete opposition to an out of control act of rage.

Update: It seems I am not the only one who thinks this was a well planned out massacre (H/T Flopping Aces):

From law enforcement source, speaking under strict condition of anonymity:

“I can tell you that there was only one shooter. Following the initial shooting at ‘West A.J.’ early this morning, police believed the suspect left the campus, and that the suspect was not a resident of the campus. It was during that investigation that the suspect returned to the campus prepared to kill as many people as possible. This was a premeditated act of mass murder, planned well in advance.”

If it was well planned in advance then it could be anything, including more than just a killing spree from a jaded lover.

Update: My previous post on this matter is here, and I again have to address people who cannot fathom a father’s concern for his kids and his neighbors’ kids in VA schools. My daughter is at a college in VA and we are grateful our neighbor’s son across the street and at VTech is OK. But the possibility of this being a terrorist attack is real and reasonable. After 9-11 we do not wait for the second plane to hit to start being concerned. We look for indications that would tell us if we need to call our kids or our family or our friends and pass the word for the kids to be careful, stay home. After bloody attacks on innocent people across the globe for over decades it is not unreasonable to be concerned and on the watch for something more than a lone attacker. People who do not have loved ones at risk may not get it, but I do not care whether they get it. We have over 30 dead people at a school in our community. We have a right to ask questions and point out issues. Terrorism is real, denial of that fact is what is dangerous.

Addendum: Some more thoughts before I turn in. So the man goes to his supposed girlfriend’s and has an altercation killing her and an RA who tries to intervene. He supposedly leaves the campus. Is armed with the vest and loads of ammo for his .22 and 9mm? Seems not. Did he go back to his house or just his car? Did he drive around away from the AJ Dorm and wait until police were all focused on the older quad dorms and then head to Randpolph and Norris Halls? Was the morning killing a diversion? AJ has 900 students in it – why not rampage there? Why stop at Randolph first but not shoot – was there something there?

Folks at Tech know there are a series of underground passageways which criss-cross the campus and connect up to many of the building like Burras and Norris, etc. They are service passageways and once in you can get anywhere on campus unseen. I know – I was in them in the fall of 1978. Hopefully they are more closed off, but back then you could access them through man-hole covers in bushes on the grounds. I would not be surprised if the killer possibly used them to get to Randolph or to hide his weapons. Who knows. But it could explain how he moved unnoticed and without detection. It still seems damn convenient all the police were distracted when he went on his rampage at Norris, when he had time to do the same damage at AJ. This is definitely a question to be answered on what happended. Was it premeditated? Well, he had to buy the guns and ammo for one.

Addendum: There are some bits of news out today which add to the picture of who the gunman is. The first item illustrates the depth of his coldness:

“This man was brutal,” said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo, an emergency room physician at Montgomery Regional Hospital, in a broadcast interview today. “There wasn’t a shooting victim that didn’t have less than three bullet wounds.”

That says a lot about the killer, and the amount of ammunition he was carrying. The second item is more disturbing because the killer lived on campus where guns and ammo are not allowed:

“We do know that he was an Asian male — this is (in) the second incident — an Asian man who was a resident in one of our dormitories,” Va. Tech President Charles Steger told CNN.

All the dorms I recall on campus where two person dorms – at a minimum. So it is not hard to figure out who that person of interest might be. It probably is this guy’s roommate and he will have to explain the guns and ammo somehow. It is hard to hide things on campus with out your roommate willing to keep quiet. If he is a young freshman (18-19), then I would say the odds of this being an act of rage is more likely than if he is in is mid 20’s. Some witnesses believe he was much younger than the 24 years in earlier reports. Needles to say it is a sad day here in the Commonwealth.

Update: Now there are indications this may have been a coordinated effort between two people, one being a student on campus:

The gunman who killed 32 people at a Virginia university in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history was a student of Asian origin who may have acted with a second suspect, the university’s president says.

“It appears that the second shooter was a resident in our dormitory… it appears he was an on-campus resident,” the president of Virginia Tech University Charles Steger said in an interview on ABC television.

There goes the jealous rage scenario I would say. And to those lefties who cringe at the speculation this may be a terrorist driven attack versus mass murderer one has to ask why is it off limits to discuss either option? It’s not like there are not both terrorists (Bin Laden) and mass murderers (Geoffry Dahmer). One has to wonder what is so disturbing to the left that discussions this might be a terrorist act creates anger and fear in them? What is driving their denial of the reality of our world today? I find it amazing there is something ‘better’ about discussing mass murder as a motive over ‘terrorism’. But then again, the liberal mind is a very strange place.