Shots Fired at Virginia Tech

[onebadmollafolla]

[AdamVR4]

Latest News
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011
Update: Shooter's status remains unknown; visitors advised to stay away from campus
(Posted: 2:20 p.m.) Numerous reports have been made recently of sounds identified as gunshots and suspicious activity on campus. These recent reports have been investigated and are unfounded. The suspect's status remains unknown. Several law enforcement agencies are on scene to assist. Please stay where you are and secure your surroundings.

Police investigating shootings on campus; shooter's status unknown
(Posted: 1:49 p.m.) Shortly after noon today, a Virginia Tech police officer stopped a vehicle on campus during a routine traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall

During the traffic stop. the officer was shot and killed. There were witnesses to this shooting.

Witnesses reported to police the shooter fled on foot heading toward the Cage, a parking lot near Duck Pond Drive. At that parking lot, a second person was found. That person is also deceased.

Several law enforcement agencies have responded to assist. Virginia State Police has been requested to take lead in the investigation

The status of the shooter is unknown. The campus community should continue to shelter in place and visitors should not come to campus.

From VT Alerts (1:12 p.m.): Suspect remains at large. A police officer has been shot. A potential second victim is reported at the Cage lot. Stay indoors. Secure in place.

From VT Alerts (12:47 p.m.): Suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack. On foot towards McComas. Call 911

From VT Alerts (12:37 p.m.): Gun shots reported- Coliseum Parking lot. Stay Inside. Secure doors. Emergency personnel responding. Call 911 for help.

Geeze.

[a2j]

why??

[HilbillyHomeboy]

How sad and utterly pointless to do some shit like that...

This trend at VT is really alarming. It seems like there is a lockdown almost once a year over brandishing, wounding, or killing.

Jeremy

[Telionis]

This trend at VT is really alarming. It seems like there is a lockdown almost once a year over brandishing, wounding, or killing.

No! There is no fucking "trend".

After 4/16, ever single time someone with a gun is seen near campus, the entire place goes on lockdown and the media has a field day. The administration is understandably paranoid, but the media's frenzy is totally unjustified. Just a few months ago they triggered an alert because some visiting high school kids saw a guy on the tennis courts with a "rifle"... (it was a black tennis racket he was holding funny). Last year they shut down Blacksburg High School because some dumbass redneck hunter was walking around the near by woods with his deer rifle on his shoulder.

In this particular case, people have died, but it is nothing more than a case of some asshole criminal shooting a cop to avoid arrest (current reports say he was pulled over in a stolen car). The fact that it is near the University is pure coincidence. If it had happened five miles down the road in Christiansburg, or if it happened at any other university, it wouldn't even be on the news. Sh-t, I bet shootings like this happen on a weekly basis near the campuses of USC or Georgia Tech.

Despite this event, VT is still statistically one of the safest campuses in the nation, Blacksburg is one of the safest towns over 15-20k population in Virginia (a statistical outlier actually, much safer than any other town of ~50k), and Montgomery County is one of the safest counties in the state. There will always be asshole criminals in every town in the world, but as far as I'm concerned, the only violence that had anything to do with VT itself was the shooting of 4/16, and that was one crazy guy; it literally could have happened anywhere.

[HilbillyHomeboy]

No! There is no fucking "trend".

After 4/16, ever single time someone with a gun is seen near campus, the entire place goes on lockdown and the media has a field day. The administration is understandably paranoid, but the media's frenzy is totally unjustified. Just a few months ago they triggered an alert because some visiting high school kids saw a guy on the tennis courts with a "rifle"... (it was a black tennis racket he was holding funny). Last year they shut down Blacksburg High School because some dumbass redneck hunter was walking around the near by woods with his deer rifle on his shoulder.

In this particular case, people have died, but it is nothing more than a case of some asshole criminal shooting a cop to avoid arrest (current reports say he was pulled over in a stolen car). The fact that it is near the University is pure coincidence. If it had happened five miles down the road in Christiansburg, or if it happened at any other university, it wouldn't even be on the news. Sh-t, I bet shootings like this happen on a weekly basis near the campuses of USC or Georgia Tech.

Despite this event, VT is still statistically one of the safest campuses in the nation, Blacksburg is one of the safest towns over 15-20k population in Virginia (a statistical outlier actually, much safer than any other town of ~50k), and Montgomery County is one of the safest counties in the state. There will always be asshole criminals in every town in the world, but as far as I'm concerned, the only violence that had anything to do with VT itself was the shooting of 4/16, and that was one crazy guy; it literally could have happened anywhere.

The Chinese graduate student who was decapitated by a fellow student would disagree..if she could.

Former Virginia Tech Grad Student Who Decapitated Classmate Gets Life In Prison

[Telionis]

The Chinese graduate student who was decapitated by a fellow student would disagree..if she could.

I must admit I find your timing quite suspicious. The moment after I question WVU's claim to "Southern Pride", you resurrect this thread to seemingly try to return the perceived insult (though that was not my intention in the first place)? If so, I really thought you were more of a man than that.
_________________________

On the off chance that your timing really was coincidental and you were being serious: your statement this is a clear cut case of cherry picking and an appeal to emotion.

This is no different than arguing against the statement that "obesity kills more Americans than terrorism" by saying "oh yeah, well I bet the 9/11 victims would disagree". It's pure nonsense and bad logic. You cannot argue against statistics with emotion. No matter how terrible the tragedy, ~3,000 < ~2,800,000 (NIH estimate).

The murder of the poor girl you mentioned was counted in the crime statistics just like any other. While it was far more sensational, more news worthy, and more horrific, statistically speaking, it carries no more or less weight than a mugging gone bad. You can cherry pick sensational stories all day long (don't forget the 4/16 massacre), but there is no statistical evidence whatsoever of a trend towards violent crime in the VT community.

If you want to talk real statistics, and compare WVU to VT in terms of violent crime, I'd be happy to do so, but I suspect you won't like the result.

[onebadmollafolla]

This trend at VT is really alarming. It seems like there is a lockdown almost once a year over brandishing, wounding, or killing.

Jeremy

The worst part is VT is a respectable school. With this sort of thing on the uprising at VT, it is cause for concern. Often times, repeats of unbridled violence like this can speak volumes to the upbringing and education in the area. Maybe gun safety or counseling on campus would be a step in the right direction?

[Telionis]

The worst part is VT is a respectable school. With this sort of thing on the uprising at VT, it is cause for concern. Often times, repeats of unbridled violence like this can speak volumes to the upbringing and education in the area. Maybe gun safety or counseling on campus would be a step in the right direction?

WTF? Did you actually read my last post? Are you trying to rile me up for fun?

There is no fucking rise in violence. There is no need for gun safety or counseling; how would that stop a carjacker with no affiliation to the university anyway?

Statistically, going by the FBI uniform crime reports, the town and county remain one of the safest in the entire country. The campus itself is one of the safest campuses in the entire nation.

The only reason this story is news worthy is because it happened on a road in VT's campus. If it had happened a mile away it wouldn't have been on the news. Incidentally, the guy stole the car from Radford, about 10 miles down the road. He just happened to be driving through campus when he got pulled over.

[Telionis]

Here, I made you a picture. This graph represents the crime rates of every single town or city in the state of Virginia. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr.../10tbl08va.xls



The weird outlier on top is Hopewell, VA, I have no idea why it is so seemingly bad. Blacksburg is well below the trendline, almost an outlier for having such a low crime per capita to population ratio.

Here is another one. Blacksburg is the 2nd safest town larger than 10k in the State. The only town ahead of us is 1/4th the size.



Campus comparison:


Montgomery County is far below the trendline and is by far the safest county larger than 45k (we've got about 94k). By County: