Thread: Massacre at Virginia Tech

Massacre seems to be the only appropriate word.

Here is the story.

Someone started shooting at a college in Virginia today, over 30 dead, more injured. It seems the shooter chained the doors. My prayers for all of those affected, the families and friends of those killed or injured, and for everyone who lived through this.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

Though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3

Over the next few weeks, we will learn more about this than we want to know, the gunner’s life story will be discussed with zeal, the media and politicians will have a field day, arguments over everything under the sun that can be linked to this incident will arise. But more than thirty people are dead right now and however hard we may try to rationalize and understand it, over thirty seats will be empty next time the families of the victims sit down to eat dinner and there is no good reason why to be found anywhere on earth. And that is the important thing to remember in all of this.

I cannot imagine what the families of the slain are going though, or the grief of their friends at suffering such senseless loss. Nor can I comprehend the trauma of the survivors. My thoughts and prayers go with them.

Michael

Well said, Michael.

-Lou

That's horrible. I still have no idea what would possess a person to take such deliberate and violent action and how they could get their hands on a firearm. My heart goes out to the families of the victims.

One of my co-workers suggested that I must be proud, that Texas is no longer the "worst" (the shootings at the University of Texas). All I could think of was that I couldn't be "sadder" (more sad). My heart, thoughts, tears and prayers go out to all of those effected by this atrocity. Recently, here in Salt Lake City, we had a shooting in which many were killed at Trolley Square, a shopping mall. What a sad state this world has reached.

RT

What really gets to me when these things happen is that some crazed S.O.B. couldn't just end his own life if he thought it wasn't worth living. He just had to go and kill innocent people that hadn't done anything to him. It's as if people like this believe that they're victims; that their lives failed because of a perception that everybody else was persecuting them and they thought this was their only way to fight back against it. It's really sad especially when many of these shooters give warning signs that are fairly obvious to people that know what to look for.

A massacre indeed, and one that saddens and worries me very much! Especially with the warning signs that the teachers saw in his writings... maybe it could have been prevented. I don't even think I can see him as a human being. I have kids and I may be paranoid but I am afraid for them

I understand he was mad at "rich kids" - and the decay of morals...

I am not sure if he suffered from these, and it is possible that he did. We'll never know, unfortunately. This certainly does not justify what he did.

It just baffles me what can drive a person to do such a thing
Ivo