Echoes of Columbine

Last updated: March 31, 2018 Date:  April 16 Year: 2007 School:  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Location:  Blacksburg State: Virginia Wounded: 23 Fatalities:  32 Shots Fired:  174/100 hits (60% fatality rate) (carried an additional 200 rounds, 17 10 - 15 round spent magazines were found at the scene) Time lapsed:  9 minutes Police response time:  3 minutes, 5 to break through chains How ended:  Suicide as police approached Civilians involved:  No Perpetrator:  Seung Hui Cho, Age:  23 Family history:  Born in South Korea, his family emigrated to the U.S. when Cho was 8. Relatives were concerned about him from a young age, because he didn't speak or make eye contact, and he was believed to be selectively mute. He was considered well behaved and obedient child, he just showed no emotion. Grandfather reports Cho never called him grandfather or embraced him as a child. ...

Date:  March 21 Year:  2005 School: Red Lake Senior High Location: Red Lake State: Minnesota Wounded: 5 Fatalities: 9 (2 home, 7 school) Shots Fired:  45 (+13 at home) Time lapsed:  9 minutes Police response time:  3 minutes (4 minute shootout with police) How ended: suicide Civilians involved: No, an unarmed security guard at the school confronted him, but he was killed. Perpetrator: Jeffrey Weise Age: 16 Family history: His father committed suicide on July 27, 1997 after a standoff with police. Mother sustained severe brain injury in an alcohol related car accident on March 5, 1999 and had to be placed in an assisted living home. His grandmother was granted custody but she died in 2003. In postings on a National Socialism forum he says he wants to be a Nazi to preserve his Native heritage, he laments the damage done by drugs and alcohol to the native people. His parents both had alcohol issues. Red flags:  Record...

The Cult of Columbine now dictates that the crimes be more shocking and the body counts be higher with each attempt. Including explosives. Ways to carry more ammo. Ways to prevent people from escaping. Though they usually worked alone, sometimes in pairs, they all worked towards a singular goal. Destruction of our society from within. They wanted to make us hurt, this much is true but more than they they wanted that hurt to be known, and impossible to forget. Mass shooters are all copy cats now, carbon copies of carbon copies. The goal of mass shootings isn't just to kill people. Mass shooters are often suicidal as well as homicidal. They have usually already decided to end their own lives through suicide by cop. If death was their eventual goal, why did they feel the need to create such a spectacle around it? Part of that power they are looking for comes from the media attention. The attention previous crimes have gathered is usually part of their overall plan. If they jus...

One of the first school shooters was a female, when asked why, she replied “I don’t like Mondays,” she said. “This livens up the day.” Date: January 29 Year: 1979 School: Cleveland Elementary School Location: San Diego State: California Wounded: 9 Fatalities: 2 Shots fired: 36 (3.2 ratio) Shooting Time lapsed: Approx 20 min. Police response time: Approx 20 min. How ended: Police were able to block her line of fire using a garbage truck, after a 6 and 1/2 hour standoff the female shooter surrendered.  Civilians involved: None known. Ended by police intervention. Perpetrator: Brenda Spencer Age: 16 Family history: Mother & father divorced for 7 years. Lived with father in house littered with alcohol bottles. They shared a single mattress on the floor. Reported father to be physically and sexually abusive. After the shooting, father impregnated a former cell mate of his daughter (also a juvenile). Reported to be withdrawn and lacking ...