Gunman Kills At Least 20 25 On Viginia Tech Campus
Update: Now 32 Confirmed Dead in the Worst Mass Shooint of Any Kind In American History

No Sudden Jihad Syndrome: It seems obvious to me reporters know the identity (or the basics of it) of the shooter and are not speculating about SJS. Therefore, this was your typical loser-murderer, inspired to kill by bullying and heartbreak and general inadequacy and not a political-religious ideology.

Speculation as to the two hour gap in the killings is that the killer went on an early rampage, then laid low, then went to a classroom where he believed his primary target to be to kill her. Maybe she was supposed to be at the dorm he attacked eariler, too, but wasn't there, thus spurring him into additional spasms of jealous rage (who is she sleeping with?!, etc.)

...

I'll put on FoxNews and see what more is known.

gunman killed at least 20 students and faculty today at Virginia Tech University in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

Shots were fired at the college's West Ambler Johnston dormitory and at the engineering school's Norris Hall, according to the university's Web site. Police aren't sure if the two shooting incidents are related and declined to identify the people killed, though they said the gunman is dead.

The campus is closed and classes canceled. Students were locked inside buildings as police tried to determine if another shooter was involved.

``Stay inside your building, away from windows,'' the school's Web site said.

The fear-of-brown-people mind springs quickly to the possibility that this was Sudden Jihad Syndrome, but of course it's hardly unprecedented for maladjusted losers to cut loose with gunfire schools.

Unconfirmed Claim: A heavily armed monster was on a rampage looking for his girlfriend. Supposedly he lined up a group of students and murdered them execution style.

Previous Bomb Threats... earlier this month, including last week. Of course, bomb threats are a dime a dozen on college campuses, and seem to coincide oddly with midterms and major exams.

Asian? A commenter says the gunman has been called "Asian" by one news outlet. Not sure how well confirmed that is.

As far as Sudden Jihad Syndrome speculation, "Asian" is used in Britain to refer to Pakistanis, but that's not the practice here.

Asian? Update: Apparently based on a picture of an Asian student being handcuffed on the ground. But this doesn't seem to be the shooter, who we're told was killed outright. The picture of the Asian student shows him clearly alive and bearing no obvious wounds.

This article, however, states that one gunman was killed and a second shooter was "apprehended."

Related: The WaPo just published a study hyping a correlation between gun ownership and suicide rates, but failed to note an anti-gun lobbying group had funded the study.

The Gap: Shootings occurred between 7:15 and 7:30. Then another came at 10:00 pm -- an unlikely scenario for a coordinated attack.

Was the second shooter opportunistically piggybacking on the initial massacre, hoping he could kill an enemy or ex-girlfriend and have her death pegged (naturally) on the rampage-shooter?

posted by Ace at 12:59 PM

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