Seung-Hui Cho
Seung-Hui Cho was a 23-year-old socially isolated Korean man who committed suicide after murdering 32 people at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. The massacre was evidently caused by the killer's intensely anti-Christian, and perhaps anti-American, views. "Jesus was crucifying me. When the time came, I did it. I had no choiceâ¦."[1]
The killer "railed against his parents' strong Christian faith."[2] According to one report, Cho Seung-Hui had left a note in his dormitory which contains a rant against Christianity[3] and "rich kids," a common stereotype of Americans.
The spark to the killer's rage was apparently jealousy and anger towards an attractive 18-year-old student named Emily Hilscher.[4] Cho had lived in the U.S. for fifteen years, since his parents immigrated when he was eight years old.[5] He had the name Ismail Ax (means Son of Sacrifice) written in red ink on his arm before the shooting.[6]
His creative writing teacher said she notified authorities about Cho based on disturbing writings that he had submitted as classwork, but said she was told that there would be too many legal hurdles to intervene[7]. Cho's play Richard McBeef is largely based on Hamlet, more emotional intensity and less subtlety. [1]
According to Cho's former room-mates, Cho has been investigated by police in 2005 for stalking several female students on campus including a female student he had been communicating with via instant messenger under the pseudonym Question Mark.[8]
References
- â http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/19/wshooter819.xml
- â http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=HMELLN1I0ZVSDQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/04/19/wshooter419.xml
- â It requires a close reading of the article to realize that his rant was against his "own religion," which really means Christianity. See http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=f9838ae8-a496-4ca2-a19f-8b8d7f3ab022&k=18395&p=2
- â http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23392980-details/Gunman%20shot%20his%20fellow%20students%20three%20times/article.do
- â ABC News Seung-Hui Cho, 23-Year-Old Shooter, Wrote 'Disturbing' Note and Violent Plays, ABC
- â http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=041807B
- â http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3048108&page=1
- â http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html
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