Category Archives: VTech-Jihadi/Psyop

V-Tech: Cho – Important early conflicts in reports- 5/1

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I am trying to keep track of early reporting.

Update: This article from April 17th night (the day after)

talks about the NY Times and Washington Post reporting on two notes – one next to the body and one in the dorm, but also says that the police so far have found no suicide note – after they just went through the dorm. Now, of course, there is a suicide note, only it’s not entirely sure where it was found. That’s besides the bomb threat note next to Cho. Quite the author. Video clips, photos, web posting, manifestos, 1 or more bomb threat notes, 8-page confessional, a suicide note…

Here is the most significant divergence I can find. Chen is the Chinese student whose interview seems to have been the source of the early report that the gunman had been shot in the back of the head which had blown apart his face and also of the report that the first killing had been sparked by jealousy. Here there is also Steger’s comment that two gunmen had been involved and that the two incidents were unrelated.

Here is a blog post that suggests evidence for a second shooter. The evidence that is cited could be interpreted otherwise. Some of the discrepancies are likely due to confusion. The only parts that are strong are the alleged statement of the last survivor in the room that the shooter ran away, the nature of the wounds Cho received (not confirmed), differences observed between the video Cho and the photo we have, the tightness of the schedule of events that day, and a statement that Cho was seen with 3 Americans in the days preceding (no confirming report). Also the killer was not descibed having a backpack. whereas Cho’s was found in the hall. This is easily explained. Cho simply put his book bag down before shooting. This Richmond Times article also contradicts the theory as it states that Cho was shot in the temple. Here is another report. This also describes a single shot to the head that left the face unrecognizable. But it says nothing about Cho bringing a book bag, whereas this one says he had a ruck sack with knives and the ammo as well as chains I suppose. Another report also contends that he did not have books with him. I don’t know if this was just the reporter’s inference or whether it was based on an eyewitness account.

In any case, Cho did not seem to have classes in Norris. The Richmond Times account also describes Cho having had two speeding tickets (not one, as later reports have stated) and photographing the women’s basketball team (he was reportedly an avid basketball player). It also describes his routine in the previous days — that he had been getting up earlier and earlier. I am not sure if it is Grewal who pulled the all-nighter that Sunday or Cho. Cho is descibed as taking his usual medication in the bathroom, though what medication is not specified. He is also described elsewhere as applying acne medicine. We learn from the report that according to the time stamp on the video, parts of it were shot (probably in his room) at around 7: 45 just after the shooting. Yet, his roommates do no recall him remembering to Harper. The packet was received at the post office just after 9 and he entered Norris at 9:15 it seems.

At this point, it just seems like the usual confusion when a story breaks, but I am keeping note of the changes.

1. Cho was first reported as being Chinese and here is a report that he was 6 ft and in a boy scout outfit – tan vest and black jacket. No book bag carried. This report also says 6 ft. Cho was actually 5 ft. 8″ – much smaller. That could be confusion of course.Here’s an article in the Chicago Sun Times with hat information. This is reportedly the google cache of the original story which is now off the web. It appears to have caused a flurry in the Chinese media and some speculation on how or why the mistake was made. There is also a theory that I saw posted on a Korean blog, which includes more details of the crime scene, and speculates that Cho was killed himself and had an accomplice. It says he was killed with 1 shot to the back of the head and 2 to the chest (haven’t seen this elsewhere), that the real killer was 6 ft and was seen running away (that is supported by other early reports that describe 2 shooters either running away or being apprehended. It also compares Columbine where 3 guns, 2 shooters and 900 bullets were involved in the death of 13 people and notes Cho’s remarkable performance as incompatible with what we know of his firearm skill.

2. He was first reported as having had a relationship with Emily Hilscher, later denied.

3. There was also the early report about his obsession with Counterstrike, subsequently denied by a suite mate.

4. A report on the package – clarifies what the number 43 referred to – the photos. 28 (or 29) seems to be the number of the video clips.

It contained an 1,800-word diatribe and 43 photos, 11 of them showing Cho aiming handguns at the camera. He also sent 28 video clips.

5. Cho described in later reports as laughing after each shot…but early witness reports that he was impassive.

6. The chains with which he locked three entrances to Norris Hall (the number was from later reports) are not from Home Depot has reported.

7. I haven’t seen any correction of the reporting of this as the worst school shooting, which it is not.

8. This is a report of the second time CIA recruiters visited the campus in 2005, Nov 16. Students were planning a teach in to protest the visit because of the news of the CIA torture policies just then published in the Washington Post (including the outsourcing of torture). No evidence linking Cho to the visit or the teach in though. Cho’s behavior however had been sullen and/or mean prior to the recruitment visit, from the testimony of teachers that fall.

Just in case, it’s pulled, here it is:

CIA recruiting at Virginia Tech

The Truth Will Set You Free
Tuesday April 17, 2007

“The single shooter was unusally effective at killing, almost as if he had been trained to do so.” –mparent7777

From November 2005 . . .
For the second time this year, the Central Intelligence Agency will be coming to Virginia Tech to recruit students.

And for the second time this year, they will be met with protests from students who view the CIA as an immoral organization that engages in torture and murder.

Nicholas Kiersey organized a protest last spring when the CIA came to campus. He released the following statement Monday about the CIA’s trip to Torgeson 3100 Thursday at 7 p.m.:

“Blacksburg, VA November 13, 2005 – A coalition of concerned graduate students and campus organizations at Virginia Tech are this Thursday staging a ‘teach in’ to protest CIA recruitment on campus. Planned events also include the protest of a ‘career information’ session to be held by the CIA later that evening.

On November 2nd, 2005 the Washington Post published an article entitled “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons”. The article reported that the CIA has set up a covert network of secret prisons and interrogation centers, known as “black sites”, in several countries around the world, including several democracies in Eastern Europe and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Prisoners at these facilities are held indefinitely and often in isolation, without due process of the law. Moreover, CIA interrogators working at these sites are permitted to use the CIA’s approved “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” some of which are prohibited by the U.N. convention and by U.S. military law. Among the tactics approved for use are “waterboarding”, intended to induce in prisoners the idea that they are drowning.

While intelligence officials defend the unrestricted operation of these sites as necessary for the successful defense of the country, it should be noted that both the sites and the suspected practices carried out at them would be illegal if operated within the USA, which is a signatory to the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Importantly, the same is true for the democratic host states in Eastern Europe where some of these sites are located.

The ‘Teach In’ will take place on Thursday, Nov. 17, 5-6.30pm, in Torgerson 3100. The event will feature talks by Virginia Tech instructors and the presentation of a draft letter to President Steger’s office, signed by a number of concerned Virginia Tech faculty and students.

The letter will request that Virginia Tech place a moratorium on all CIA activities on Virginia Tech’s campus until such time as a thorough and independent investigation certifies that the organization has been thoroughly reformed and no longer engages in practices that contravene international law and basic standards of human rights.

The CIA’s scheduled ‘career information’ session will take place at 7pm in the same location.

Sponsoring campus organizations include: The International Club and Amnesty International at Virginia Tech.”

Lucinda Roy, a co-director of the creative writing program at Virginia Tech, taught Cho in a poetry class in fall of 2005 and later worked with him one-on-one after she became concerned about his behavior and themes in his writings.

Roy spoke outside her home Tuesday afternoon, saying that there was nothing explicit in Cho’s writings, but that threats were there under the surface.

Roy told ABC News that Cho seemed “extraordinarily lonely–the loneliest person I have ever met in my life.” She said he wore sunglasses indoors, with a cap pulled low over his eyes. He whispered, took 20 seconds to answer questions, and took cellphone pictures of her in class. Roy said she was concerned for her safety when she met with him.”

Note that Cho accordint to this never spoke above whispers..many of his suite mates had never heard him speak. He is said to have had a form of autism or speech impediment. But yet, he spoke clearly on the videotape and the psychologist made no mention on his evaluation of a speech problem.

Here are the plays that Cho wrote in ?? that were posted

One play attributed to him, called “Richard McBeef,” describes a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of pedophilia, and ends with the boy’s death.

In another, called “Mr. Brownstone,” three high-school students face an abusive teacher.

“I wanna kill him,” says one character.

“I wanna watch him bleed like the way he made us kids bleed,” says another.

The two plays were posted on AOL after a staffer named Ian MacFarlane, a December 2006 graduate of Virginia Tech, brought them to his editors’ attention.

MacFarlane said he was in a class with Cho in which students were required to post their plays online for peer review and comment.” ( so that places the plays also in the fall of 2005)

My Comment: If something caused this much rage (assuming this is not just imagination or fantasy at work)

why were Cho’s earlier creative efforts (he must have taken creative writing in high school or something earlier in college) not filled with stuff like this? Could the triggering event have occurred in 2005?

Under Virginia law, state residents can only buy one handgun in any 30-day period, suggesting Cho bought his second weapon after April 13 or sometime over the weekend.

“He clearly spent some time figuring out how he was going to take care of business once classes began on Monday morning,” said Garrett.

The date of the first gun purchase will likely serve as the time of “some triggering mechanism that was very important” to Cho said Garrett, an expert on profiling murderers. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/massacre_gun_57.html

http://blogs.roanoke.com/campuswatch/archives/cia_recruiting.html

Also, information that Cho’s uncle was a contractor to the state department.

More contradictions in the archives of the Salem news
http://salem-news.com/articles/april162007/shooting_update_41607.php

Here’s the original explanation:

When he was asked why students weren’t alerted to the imminent danger from a man with a gun, he said, “They had reason to believe the shooter had left the campus.”

Now, they say, the campus was too big, they were afraid people would run into the shooter and what if he had gone into his dorm room anyway.

Sadly, many of the students failed to see the email and as a consequence, walked into the gunman’s line of fire. Many are saying that the school should have closed immediately, and that they were far from prepared for this kind of a situation. That, in spite of a shooting on the campus on the first day of the school year and the recent bomb threats.

These are the emails that were sent to student from the University:

E-MAIL 1
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 9:26 AM
To: Multiple recipients
Subject: Shooting on campus.

A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning.

Police are on the scene and are investigating.

The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case. Contact Virginia Tech Police at XXX – XXXX

Stay attuned to the www.vt.edu. We will post as soon as we have more information.

E-MAIL 2
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 9:50 AM
To: Multiple recipients
Subject: PLease stay put

A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows

Subject: PLease stay put

A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows

E-MAIL 3
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 10:17 AM
To: Multiple recipients
Subject: All Classes Canceled; Stay where you are

Virginia Tech has canceled all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where there are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus.

E-MAIL 4
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 10:53 AM
To: Multiple recipients
Subject: Second Shooting Reported; Police have one gunman in custody

In addition to an earlier shooting today in West Ambler Johnston, there has been a multiple shooting with multiple victims in Norris Hall.

Police and EMS are on the scene.

Police have one shooter in custody and as part of routine police procedure, they continue to search for a second shooter.

All people in university buildings are required to stay inside until further notice.

All entrances to campus are closed.

They first thought it was Morva:

Media outlets are reporting the name of the accused gunman as William Morva. Again, there are conflicting reports at this time, but most indicate that the gunman is dead.

V-Tech: Oddities – Photo of 30 bullets, Cho suicide note, updated 4/26 AM

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This article from the Sidney Morning Herald draws attention to something that also puzzles me. Granted that Cho trained at a firing range (and also possibly through video games, although this is controversial and possibly mistaken) and may have been at it for a long time for all we know, still, how could he have figured he was going to shoot 30 people and then actually go and kill 30 people (in the second killing)?

Did he practice some kind of autohypnosis, taking the photo and then dwelling on the image to “psych” himself into doing it? It’s possible. Certainly, visualization is a very important part of peak performance training in many areas for a good reason; it works.

But then, if he was really able to shoot that accurately (the reports say he was firing from close range and missing a lot, as well), why not be completely accurate; why not 32 bullets for his 32 victims?

Could this be interpreted to mean that he only focused on the second killing not the first? Or only committed the second?
Could there still be a chance that there was another killer involved, as well (- which the police themselves haven’t entirely ruled out)? Theories will abound. We still need a lot more.

Another point: I found this early report saying no suicide note had been left. This is two days after the killing. That’s clearly wrong, since the suicide note was reported quite early on, although its location has never been made clear. That might be understandable. There was a lot of confusion at the crime scene.
The suicide note was reported in one account to have been in the room. Now I hear it was found either in the back pack found in the hall of Norris Hall OR in the room.

Another point is made in this quote:

“Along with 23 short videos of himself, Cho included a well-produced but rambling 1800-word manuscript, replete with 80 photographs, including some of him brandishing weapons and dressed as he was on Monday when he murdered 32 students before killing himself.”

Comment: So – the 43 photos mentioned in other reports must just be the photos that NBC has decided to release. That means they have more. Wonder why they have been withheld.

I would understand if they’re holding back to minimize copycat shootings or to protect the the victims, with which I would fully agree. But, of course, they were willing to release the other pictures, so I doubt that’s the reason. Maybe there is inflammatory material or things that need to be private so the investigation isn’t jeopardised.

Or – here’s a thought. Maybe, the photos (if they exist) are just more of the same; but withholding them allows them to create nebulous suspicions, on both sides of the political aisle.

Final Point:

Another quote from the same article:

“In it, Cho, 23, also makes a chilling reference to the “martyrs Eric and Dylan.”

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were responsible for the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, when 12 students and a teacher were killed before they turned the guns on themselves.”

My Comment:

Notice the jihadi-type of language – “martyrs.” Of course this language (what with all the Osama videos we’ve seen in the past few years) is part of the zeitgeist in which Cho grew up. This could be nothing more than that cultural baggage. To counterbalance that, here’s the actual language from this report:

He wrote (apologies for quoting offensive material): “Now that you have gone on a 9/11 on my life like (expletive deleted) Osama. Now that you have (expeletive deleted) your own people like (expletive deleted) Kim Jong-Il. Now that you have gone on a hummer safari on my life like (expeletive deleted) Bush? Are you happy now?”

My Comment:

Sounds more like a diatribe…he’s not exactly endorsing Osama or Kim Il Jong; he also identified himself with the crucified Christ, but that won’t stop the bloggers.
In one sense, it doesn’t really matter how you interpret the evidence. Just the fact of speculating and being anxious or uncertain creates a kind of trauma in the mind. That ‘s a technique that is extensively researched and used in specific acts of coercion and mental torture. And propaganda against foreign populations. What may be less understood is how it is used in propaganda against the domestic population.

Update: here’s a link to my post on the new, declassified IG’s report on the involvement of psychologists in framing torture techniques, and inferentially, torture  policy. 

V-Tech-Mid-East Connections/oddities in Cho’s family – updated 5/3

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Update: This article says that Cho’s father went to Saudi Arabia to work in the oil fields, after he was married, not before, as the others state.

The piece also claims that the Cho’s bought a house worth $145,000 in Virginia in 1997, when Cho Sung Hui would have been 13, an age when psychological problems often become worse. This doesn’t square with the theory that the family was too poor to afford mental health care for him, as they likely carried medical insurance. The more plausible explanation is the stigma attached to talking about family problems to others, a stigma felt especially in Asian families.

There is also speculation in this piece that Cho might have wanted to get into V Tech’s engineering program and failed; and that that was the motive for his attack on Norris Hall — revenge.I am not entirely convinced by it.

Another interesting angle here is Cho’s sister’s intense involvement with her faith – prayer meetings and so on. I wonder whether Cho was involved in any of it. Cho was not unattached to his family – he seems to have called home every Sunday evening while he was at V Tech.

This little additional piece of information will spark more jihadi/psyop speculation:

I saw it on this blog. (OK, I found it on einnews.com, as well as in the Guardian and it’s been out since 4/19. I just hadn’t seen it, since it was a foreign source).

It seems that Cho’s father (now 61) worked in Saudi Arabia in oil for ten years. Reports describe the family as poor and living in a two-room basement apartment in S. Korea where they owned a second-hand book store. The story from relatives was that they went to the US to make good because they were poor. Of course, it depends on what the father did. I found further details in this Mirror (UK) article:

After they were married, he went away twice to Saudi Arabia in the 80s to try to make some money in the construction boom. He came back with about £2,000, which was enough to buy a small house in Seoul. He also ran a second-hand bookstore. His mother was living in the States on a long term visit to stay with his sister. She asked him to bring his family to live there.

“His sold the house to pay for the emigration costs and rented instead but there were lots of delays and eventually the whole process to get the permissions and organise things took eight years.

“By that time the money from the house was nearly gone. They were barely making ends meet so they had nothing to lose and had this idea of the American dream where there was a lot of money to be made.”

Here’s the excerpt from the Guardian:

“Cho Seung-Hui was born in South Korea. His mother, Kim Hyang-im and his father, Sung-tae were from two different backgrounds. She was from a well-educated family of North Korean landowners, who had been forced to flee without possessions during the Korean war; he was from a poor family in the south, but had made enough money to marry by working in Saudi Arabia for 10 years on construction sites and oil fields. He was 10 years her senior. Cho’s mother was forced into an arranged marriage with his father.

As Hyang-im was 29 – a late age for a woman to find a husband in South Korea – Her father told her she had to accept the proposal. “She didn’t want to marry, but she gave in,” said Yong-soon (her Aunt). “Her husband was not fit for her. But she always followed and obeyed him. She never fought him, though sometimes I wish she had done.” No one in the family recalls any violent behaviour from Cho or his parents that might have hinted at the carnage to come.

Cho’s maternal grandfather said even as a young child Cho was not like other grandchildren and would never come running to him. “The boy was so different from his super-intelligent older sister. His extreme shyness worried his parents. I thought he might be deaf and dumb.” Cho “didn’t talk much when he was young. He was very quiet, but he didn’t display any peculiarities to suggest he may have problems,” Kim(An Uncle) said. “We were concerned about him being too quiet and encouraged him to talk more.” Soon after they got to America, Cho was diagnosed as being clinically withdrawn. It amazes me that he ever made it into university. I guess he must have had some mental problems from birth.” Even though his parents worried about him because he was shy and withdrawn Cho was always well behaved.”

End of quote

The blog also has additional information about Cho’s text messages to women. Apparently, they included a quote from Romeo and Juliet:

ROMEO
By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word. *

Now, I have no idea how the blogger got hold of this information, perhaps from information from students that escaped media attention, and I haven’t seen it confirmed anywhere. It might be from a local newsreport that escaped the national media.

It seems to fit in with the general picture we have of Cho, who made references to Macbeth (Richard McBeef) and to Moby Dick (Ismail – at least, that’s my take on it, so far) as well.

The Guardian and Mirror reports seem to hint at problems between the parents, (they were 10 years apart in age) although this isn’t enough information to go on.

1. What I find odd here is this description of the relationship between father and children:

“But the father doted on his son and daughter. “He lived for his children. He would have done anything for them,” the grandfather recalled. “But now this has happened. It’s as if everything they’ve done, the reason for their whole existence has been for nothing. It’s as if they’ve not lived at all.”

Overtly, that doesn’t fit with the portrait of the father figures in those two wretched plays, Mr. Brownstone and Richard McBeef. But, on the other hand, we have no idea how much of this rage was based in any real life abuse. It might just be a product of Cho’s own anger, for whatever reason. OR, the rage could be directed against a teacher/mentor/some other family member.

2. The other oddity is one I have noted before:

“Soon after they got to America, he was diagnosed as being clinically withdrawn. It amazes me that he ever made it into university. I guess he must have had some mental problems from birth.” (Yong Soon, Cho’s mother’s aunt)

Now, how come there are no records of that? Shouldn’t Cho’s university health care also have had theatrecord?

Cho’s mother was described as very devoted and she apparently cared enough about him to plead with his dorm mates to help him. She reportedly spent time in church praying that he would grow more outgoing. There is also information in the Mirror article that the family was too poor to pay for a specialist, when they first came to the US:

“Both his parents knew he had mental problems but they were poor and they couldn’t send him to a special hospital in the United States.

“His mother and sister were asking his friends to help instead.”

His parents worked and did not have time to look after his condition and didn’t give him special treatment.

“They had no time or money to look after his special problem even though they knew he was autistic.”

3. The third point I find odd is that again, in these articles, Cho is described as extremely fond of video games, spending all his time on them. (Now, there was a Washington Post account that had mentioned this and then that information was withdrawn. I will try to find the URL).

But, Karan Grewal who lived with him in the same suite at V-Tech says he didn’t ever see him playing video games. It could be Grewal was mistaken, of course. But I find this odd. Of course, these reports are from his high school years or earlier. By college he might have given up the games.

So far, the Middle Eastern connections are:

1. Father worked in Saudi oil fields for 10 years

2. Sister worked in Iraq reconstruction. I hear contradictory reports, some saying she was a contractor and not in the state department; others saying she headed up some department. I think the former is more likely to be the case.

3. The name Ismail Ax marked in red ink on Cho’s arm and the name A. Ismail on the video package he sent to NBC

4. The words al quaed and anti-terror and the reference to Osama on the tape. There are also more ambiguous references to ‘my brothers and sisters who have been oppressed’ (I am using a euphemism here for Cho’s actual words on the tape).

The context of the references though, tend to go against this. I just found this in a Mirror (UK) article:

He wrote: “Now that you have gone on a 9/11 on my life like (deleted) Osama. Now that you have (depleted) your own people like (deleted) Kim Jong-Il. Now that you have gone on a hummer safari on my life like (deleted) Bush? Are you happy now?”

And what about this:

“You loved crucifying me. Do you know what it feels like to be impaled on a cross and left to bleed to death for your amusement. ”
As I said in another post, that sounds like a generalized rant to me. The right-wing blogs are convinced that Cho was a jihadi and the left-wing blogs that it was a psyop. The evidence could lend itself to both speculations. At this point, I still think it was a case of anti-social loner, the classic school shooter profile, according to many experts. One expert thinks the video shows that he wanted to win notoriety in popular culture – which of course, replaying the video on TV had done.

What I am certain about is that this will only further drive the federalization of data bases and the imposition of more stringent gun laws as well as other security-related changes.

I wrote extensively (a whole chapter on the Nick Berg beheading video as well as on other material) in the Abu Ghraib book about the use of video material in public propaganda and the difficulties of judging the accuracy of what is presented. You could be dealing with information, disinformation, deliberate hoaxes, genuine mistakes, red herrings…

Again, the political/historical context and the overall trend of public policy and laws are often better guides to deciphering the significance of material in the public realm.

VTech – Questions about damage inflicted by handguns

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This interview , apparently with a Florida U. criminologist, is on You Tube and is posted on numerous websites and blogs:

“Charles Mesloh, Professor of Criminology at Florida Gulf Coast University, told NBC 2 News that he was shocked Cho could have killed 32 people with two handguns absent expert training. Mesloh immediately assumed that Cho must have used a shotgun or an assault rifle.”

I don’t know enough myself to assess this statement. Needs more research.

But here is more from another Time article which suggests the same:”Cho’s extraordinary killing effectiveness suggests someone who was trained, or who trained himself, in “execution-style” killing, according to the federal source”

There is a picture circulating on Liberty Forum (and also on other sites and blogs) of what is said to be Cho in a US marine uniform. The picture was apparently uploaded to wiki and then pulled. There is some debate about that.

Looking at it myself, I have no idea whether one of those young men portrayed in it is Cho. It could be, but I am declining to post it, as I have no way of knowing whether it is accurate, a mistake, or a hoax.

In any case, VTech, like many campuses around the country, probably had recruiters onsite. Cho’s sister worked in Iraq construction and he was – from what we have heard so far – an intelligent enough person.

The picture is fuelling the military psyop argument right now.

I will be on the look out for confirmation of this from other sources.

Meanwhile, explaining it a different way, John Markell, the owner of the gunshop which sold the Glock (but not the Walther) to Cho, argues that Cho probably purchased several magazines:

“The Glock 19 is sold with two magazines, each capable of holding 15 rounds, double-stacked to make a compact clip not much bigger than a harmonica. Judging by the number of fatalities and wounded — most of whom reportedly were shot more than once — Cho may have fired a hundred or more rounds. Loading magazines is a slow business, so Markell figures that Cho must have acquired several more magazines and more ammunition from some other source.”

The Glock was also easy to conceal, being very small, which explains how he got away with it:

“As it turned out, the Glock 19 was perfect for Cho’s deadly purpose. The gun is just 6.85 inches long and 5 inches wide, according to a Glock website, and thus easily concealed. A vest with several pockets can hold a number of compact 15-round magazines that fit a Glock 19. Cho surely knew that in cold weather a mass murderer could carry an arsenal on his back and in his pockets, and there would be no way to detect him, short of metal detectors at every entrance to every classroom building and dorm.”

More Oddities in V-Tech Shooting

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Jihadi and Psyops Speculations:

The blogs, left and right, have their theories about Cho.

The right-wing blogs are concerned about the jihadi aspects of the case – viz., the name Ismail (need to verify exact spelling) Ax in ink on Cho’s arm and on the return address of the video packet sent to NBC; also his high kill rate and the execution-style killing (using a chain purchased at Home Depot to fasten outer doors of Norris Hall) and the use of words like al-qaed and anti-terror in the files on the video sent to NBC.

The left wing blogs are looking at the possibility of a military psy-op of some kind. They are noting that Cho’s sister, who graduated from Princeton, worked for the government. This is the piece that is heading the popular wordpress blog posts on the subject now:

Quote:

“His older sister, Sun-Kyung, graduated from Princeton University in 2004. A source, who asked to be identified as a senior Administration official, said she works for McNeil Technologies, a firm contracted by the State Department to manage reconstruction efforts in Iraq (my emphasis). Woh. Ok. Stop right there.

“What does McNeil Technologies do?

“Oh, the usual black bag intelligence agency cut out kind of stuff… Actually, there’s more here than you can shake a stick at.

“The McNeil Technologies Services page lists the following categories: Language Services, Information Management Services, Program Support Services, Security Services, Intelligence Services.”

End of quote.

My Comment: I honestly don’t know if that’s enough to go on, since DC is filled with people who work for the government in some way or other. I taught at a school in the area for a while, and there were people on the school board, connected to the US government and to the CIA, but the school functioned as any school would. Intelligence is a huge business and recruiters look for people with language skills. Since they pay well, first or second generation immigrants are often attracted to that kind of work – which is mostly not cloak and dagger stuff. So, it’s interesting, certainly, but proves nothing much, IMHO.

However, I did find this rather odd:

“Cho’s high school has produced TWO psychotic young adults who went on gun rampages within one year of each other. Last May, Michael Kennedy, a student at Westfield High School in Chantilly, Virginia, went on a shooting rampage at a police station, killing two police officers before being fatally shot himself (my emphasis). Authorities consider this just a “horrible coincidence”. Adding to the coincidence is that Michael’s father, Brian Kennedy, was just recently released from jail in charges related to that killing. In fact, he was due in court the day after the Cho killings.”

Take a look at this article, cited in the above post, which details the trove of weapons found in Kennedy’s possession:

“The nightmare began May 8, 2006, around 3:40 p.m., when Michael Kennedy carjacked a van and drove into the rear lot of the Sully District Police Station. Unarmed, Garbarino was inside his cruiser after his shift, preparing to leave on vacation. Suddenly, from a few yards away, Kennedy fired more than 20 rounds at him with an AK-47 rifle.

“Garbarino was struck five times; yet though gravely wounded and in pain, he radioed other officers, alerting them to the danger. He provided suspect information, directed responding officers and told the police helicopter where to land.

“Armel went outside to respond to the carjacking and, when she reached her cruiser, Kennedy arrived and began shooting at Garbarino. Drawing Kennedy’s fire away from Garbarino, she and Kennedy exchanged gunfire, and a bullet from his 30.06-caliber rifle pierced her ballistic vest and struck her in the chest.

“ARMED WITH FIVE handguns, an AK-47 assault weapon, a high-powered rifle and more than 300 rounds of ammunition, Kennedy fired 70 rounds-plus before other officers killed him. Later that night, armed with a warrant, Det. Craig Paul and other police officers searched Kennedy’s home at 6200 Prince Way for three hours, seizing a veritable arsenal of weapons and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition.

“The indictment states that Brian Kennedy illegally possessed 20 firearms, including an AK-47 and several bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. He also owned a large variety of handguns — among them a .38 Special Taurus and a 9 mm Luger Commander semi-automatic pistol.

“Weapons were everywhere in the Kennedy home; the inventory list of items seized is 10 pages long. Under the mattress in the master bedroom were a Colt 9 mm handgun with one round in the chamber and a leather sheath containing a 9-inch knife. On the nightstand were a bayonet plus high-velocity ammunition for a Remington, semi-automatic shotgun.

“A Smith & Wesson knife was under the left, loveseat cushion in the living room, and both a 12-gauge shotgun and a 22-caliber long rifle stood in the corner of the hallway to the basement. An M80 explosive was tucked inside a kitchen cabinet to the right of the stove, and an Atlanta Sharptec knife was stored in the ceiling above the utility-room door.”

My Comment: Whew! My interest is not only in the coincidence of a psychiatric killer with multiple weapons coming out of the same high school, but also in what that suggests about VA Tech police procedures.

Surely, as a state school and with the state already having encountered this classic school shooter incident, they would have had specialized training and a specialized response ready. But they didn’t, despite this shooting and then the Morva shooting, in just the previous year. It would be good to find out why the record of arson and stalking at the school – which they knew about – did not lead them to suspect Cho in the bomb threats – at least to the extent of questioning him.

More on Psyops:

This other thread here strikes me as much more speculative but not unworthy of investigation.

For me right now, though, these are the questions I want to pursue:

Main Questions:

1. What accounts for the failure to enter Cho’s psychiatric condition into the state or federal record (do I have this right)? Or for the university not following up in some way on his treatment?

2. What accounts for the failure of the police to close down the campus after two people were killed and there were two recent bomb threats? Also, the behavior of the police was extremely lax, as this piece by Alexander Cockburn, indicates.

3. Where or how did Cho acquire his expertise in shooting?

4. How does the methodical nature of the killing and the posting of a video in the middle of it all square with the rest of the profile we have of Cho?

5. Cho is said to have had a speech impediment or autism early on, but on the video his voice seems clear enough. Puzzled.

Oddities with regard to possessions and contacts:

I have posted this separately, but felt the contents of his room, emails, and books also warranted classification as oddities, as they may contain clues to his state of mind and his connections:

Contents of Search Warrant

Here is a list of items found in Cho’s room. As you can see there are not video games (so far). I mentioned earlier that the Counterstrike obsession may have been more a rumor set off by accounts from high school classmates that were never fully substantiated, because Karan Grewal, his suite mate said that he never saw evidence of it. But I would still like to learn more.

Results of search of his room, courtesy of gaygamer:

*Chain from top left closet shelf
• Folding knife & combination padlock
• Compaq computer from desktop
• Assorted documents, notepads, writings from desktop
• Combination lock
• Dremel tool and case
• Nine books, two notebooks, envelopes, from top shelf
• Assorted books & pads from lower shelf
• Compact discs from desktops
• Items from desktop & drawers: winchester multi tool, 3 notebooks, mail, checks, credit card
• Items from 2nd door: Kodak digital camera, Citibank statement
• Two cases of compact discs from dresser top
• Drive: Seagate: 80 Gb
• Six sheets of green computer paper
• Mirror with blue plastic housing
• Dremel tool box with receipt
• Dell Latitude service tag

More about those books and CDs from this report:

“Cho, 23, also used the eBay account to sell items ranging from Hokies football tickets to horror-themed books, some of which were assigned in one of his classes.

A search warrant affidavit filed Friday stated that investigators wanted to search Cho’s e-mail accounts, including the address Blazers5505@hotmail.com. Durzy confirmed Cho used the same blazers5505 handle on eBay.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said investigators are “aware of the eBay activity that mirrors” the Hotmail account.

One question investigators hope to answer is whether Cho had any e-mail contact with Emily Hilscher, one of the first two victims. Investigators plan to search her Virginia Tech e-mail account.

Experts say that when the subject of an investigation is a loner like Cho, his computers and cell phone can be a rich source of information. Authorities say Cho had a history of sending menacing text messages and other communications — written and electronic.

On March 22, Cho bought at least two 10-round magazines for the Walther P22. A day later, he made a purchase from a vendor named “oneclickshooting,” which sells gun accessories and other items. It appears that he bought three Walther P22 clips in that purchase, but the seller could not be reached for comment.

Cho sold tickets to Virginia Tech sporting events, including last year’s Peach Bowl. He sold a Texas Instruments graphics calculator that contained several games, most of them with mild themes.

“The calculator was used for less than one semester then I dropped the class,” Cho wrote on the site.

He also sold many books about violence, death and mayhem. Several of those books were used in his English classes, meaning Cho simply could have been selling used books at the end of the semester.

His eBay rating was superb — 98.5 percent. That means he received one negative rating from people he dealt with on eBay, compared with 65 positive.

“great ebayer. very flexible,” the buyer said of his Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl tickets, which went for $182.50.

Andy Koch, Cho’s roommate from 2005-06, said he never saw Cho receive or send a package, although he didn’t have much interaction with the shooter. Students can sign up for a free lottery on a game-by-game basis, and the tickets are free.

“We took him to one football game,” he said. “We told him to sign up for the lottery, and he went and he left like in the third quarter, and that was it. He never went again. He never went to another game.”

Cho sold the books on the eBay-affiliated site half.com. They include “Men, Women, and Chainsaws” by Carol J. Clover, a book that explores gender in the modern horror film. Others include “The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre”; and “The Female of the Species: Tales of Mystery and Suspense” by Joyce Carol Oates — a book in which the publisher writes: “In these and other gripping and disturbing tales, women are confronted by the evil around them and surprised by the evil they find within themselves.”

End of Quote
My Comment:
I have more on the eBay handle in my post about Cho’s emails/books (see categories, where I have classified the VTech posts into three categories. Obviously, they overlap, but they will help organize the posts into materal that relates to

1. The failure of the police response

(including nature of killings, wounds, crime scene footage, autopsy, victim and witness accounts)
2. The Psychiatric/Legal failure

(centering around the history of pathological or criminal failure, the laws of privacy, the failure to report or follow up on these, lack of information given to the Feds, failure of the background check to find Cho’s history, gun laws and policy, mental illness and civil rights laws, privacy laws).

3. The theories and evidence for some kind of terrorist or intelligence related activity

(centering around Cho, including the Ismail Ax name and related material. Much of the material will overlap with the other categories too).

Final Oddity:

A report on the crime scene has this:
“Crime scene technicians recovered 17 spent magazines of ammunition, the majority of which were for Cho’s 9mm handgun, a law enforcement official said.

“He ended up buying a load of mags from Wal-Mart and Dick’s Sporting Goods,” said an official, who asked not to be identified. “This was a thought-out process. He thought this through.”

Autopsy:
I am adding this quote about the autopsy findings, which show repeated shooting at the victims, as it is also peculiar:

“The reports on the victims, including Cho, show that he caused more than 100 wounds, hitting victims several times,”

This is from an earlier report on the multiple wounds –

” The official said investigators believed that most of the 32 dead were shot a minimum of three times, and that many of the 28 wounded were shot more than once.”

Partly answering one of my questions (how did he get so good at shooting) is this account of his practicing in the week before the killing. Obviously that doesn’t explain the whole thing, but taken together with the account of his getting up early and going to the gym, you can see he practiced for this).

“In the weeks before the violence, the investigator said, Cho went to a shooting range in Blacksburg, not far from campus, spending an hour practicing with the weapons and buying more magazines there.

“Investigators believe, based on interviews with an employee at the range, that Cho recorded part of his video statement in a van in the range parking lot because, they said, the employee described an Asian youth recording himself there.”

On Sunday, state police also indicated that so far they have not definitely been able to tie Cho to the first killing at Ambler Johnston, although his gun was “linked” to it.

(My Comment: Was it used there, found there, or did the bullets match up..more research needed here? Needs clarification).

There is still a possibility, in other words, that there could have been two different killers. The whole scenario of Cho killing two people and then walking a couple of miles to and fro to post his videos (at least, the reports I read did not mention that he drove), in time to massacre 30 more students does seem strange to me, although, you don’t really expect normalcy in this sort of business.