Author Topic: Virginia Tech Authorities Dropped the Ball (Read 544 times)

Shuckins · « **on:** April 16, 2007, 04:42:43 PM »

According to news reports just released, after the first shooting earlier this morning, where two people were killed and the killer was still on the loose, whereabouts unknown.....the Virginia Tech authorities did NOT close down the campus.

For at least two hours.

One report states that they were concerned about the students missing classes.....

Unfreaking believable. Gross incompetence of stupendous proportions.

Dago · « **Reply #1 on:** April 16, 2007, 04:44:23 PM »

I suggest not jumping to any conclusions or trying to assign blame until the facts come out.

Captain Virgil Hilts · « **Reply #2 on:** April 16, 2007, 04:48:33 PM »

Odd how the "news reporters" seem to already know ALL the facts about the first shooting, even though NO law enforcement agency has released ANY details, about the first shooting, other than two victims were transported and later died.

Shuckins · « **Reply #3 on:** April 16, 2007, 04:49:40 PM »

Dago....this isn't rumor. Students being interviewed have stated that after the first shooting they were told by police and campus security to go on to class.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 16, 2007, 04:51:12 PM »

I wouldn’t have assumed that a homicide would lead to this. There are hundreds or thousands of murders a year; once the bad guy leaves how often does it blow up into something like this? How do you secure a campus of 26,000 with classes already in session, students in transit? It’s not like this is a single building high school. I don’t think its time to blame the police of school. People are so knowing when they have hindsight…

Shuckins · « **Reply #5 on:** April 16, 2007, 04:54:32 PM »

eskimo....do you honestly think they couldn't have evacuated the campus in a two hour time span? If nothing else they could have confined the students to their dorms and posted guards everywhere.

devild0g · « **Reply #6 on:** April 16, 2007, 05:06:10 PM »

Sad because you are worried about students missing one day... tell that to the parents who will never again be able to send there kids to school again....

Captain Virgil Hilts · « **Reply #7 on:** April 16, 2007, 05:07:42 PM »

Tell me EXACTLY how you would know, IN ADVANCE, that two people found shot, will always and immediately result in and be related to a large scale attack in the immediate future.

From the view point of having been on the job before, I can tell you that if you find two people shot, you do not often know at that point what happened or what will happen next. So, exactly how do you decide whether to shut down the entire surrounding area?

Captain Virgil Hilts · « **Reply #8 on:** April 16, 2007, 05:10:10 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2
I wouldn’t have assumed that a homicide would lead to this. There are hundreds or thousands of murders a year; once the bad guy leaves how often does it blow up into something like this? How do you secure a campus of 26,000 with classes already in session, students in transit? It’s not like this is a single building high school. I don’t think its time to blame the police of school. People are so knowing when they have hindsight…

Amen. Especially when less than half of the facts are known, and FAR less than that are known by the press and the general public.

kamilyun · « **Reply #9 on:** April 16, 2007, 05:37:01 PM »

A college campus is more like a town...in fact, bigger than most "towns". I can't imagine shutting down a town of 25,000 just b/c there's a shooting on one side. On the other hand, I've been at a school where a 10-20% chance of snow gets the entire school district shut down. It's a tough judgement call...but with very serious consequences. I think in the future, universities will err on the side of caution.

Bodhi · « **Reply #10 on:** April 16, 2007, 05:45:04 PM »

This is definitely not a time to assign blame. There will be plenty of that flying around later.

Elfie · « **Reply #11 on:** April 16, 2007, 06:00:31 PM »

I think it's way to early to start tossing out accusations of blame.

I also don't think it is reasonable to shut down an entire university over one incident. How were the university police and administrators supposed to forsee that the shootings hadn't stopped? Just a guess here.....but they probably thought it was an isolated incident.

Now if the gunman had just kept shooting folks as he moved from one building to another, that would be different.

FrodeMk3 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 16, 2007, 06:04:37 PM »

This is just a supposition, but...

It's possible that campus police thought that the first 2 murders were isolated, that there was'nt gonna be a shooting spree, and that they're best chance to catch the shooter was to keep everyone on campus.

Because it happened on campus, you initially have 26,000 suspects.

And it takes time to narrow it down.

So, for what it's worth, until the next shootings, the campus PD was most likely thinking that the initial double homicide was the worst of it.That is, until the further shootings.

Masherbrum · « **Reply #13 on:** April 16, 2007, 06:08:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2
I wouldn’t have assumed that a homicide would lead to this. There are hundreds or thousands of murders a year; once the bad guy leaves how often does it blow up into something like this? How do you secure a campus of 26,000 with classes already in session, students in transit? It’s not like this is a single building high school. I don’t think its time to blame the police of school. People are so knowing when they have hindsight…

This is the perfect post.

tedrbr · « **Reply #14 on:** April 16, 2007, 06:13:35 PM »

With the numbers of people involved, this physical bloodbath with be followed by political, public relations, and talking-head bloodbaths. I suspect a non-binding resolution from Congress is on the horizon.

I can spot a lot of potential problems and issues, but I think it best to wait for some concise written reports to come out.

T.V. news is 99% t.v. 1% news. It will be media circus, and not everyone vying for time in front of a camera actually knows anything concrete. As t.v. news a a ratings game, they will be looking for whatever angle will work to keep viewers interested. The common practice of reporters feigning righteous indignation in whatever they report with a accusatory fashion has me suspect of anything they say.

It will take a lot of interviews with those that were there and cross referenced with others, in addition to recordings, photos, and other evidence to get a good picture of what exactly happened.