Newsweek Looks Back At Viriginia Tech Massacre

A team of Newsweek correspondents reconstructs the timeline of the day of the shootings at Virginia Tech that left 32 dead. Derek O'Dell, a sophomore recalls that the scariest thing was seeing the killer's eyes because there was nothing there.

In an e- mail, writing professor Lisa Norris tells Newsweek that the associate dean of students tried to be helpful when she and other teachers voiced their concerns but the administrator said she could find "no mention of mental health issues or police reports" on Cho.

Newsweek reviews the events of the week and how a killer known for his isolating behavior even among his roommates and grim writings with a history of mental illness was beyond the reach of help.

In "Story of A Gun," (p.37), Senior Editor Jerry Adler and Assistant Editor Raina Kelley report on the history, business and availability of the 9mm Glock handgun in U.S. culture. It was the Virginia Tech gunman's weapon of choice.

In "Something to Talk About" (p.39), Contributing Editor Eleanor Clift writes on the noticeable hush from Democrats in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings. Democrats could no longer afford to let the GOP own the issue, Newsweek reports. But one Democrat, New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed by a gunman in a 1993 shooting spree, is talking. And a bill she has pushed that would give states incentives to report information about criminals and the mentally ill is now getting more attention.

And in "The Anatomy of Violence" (p.40), Science Editor Sharon Begley reports on the science of violence in the wake of the worst massacre in U.S. history. Scientists now believe the roots of violence are equally planted in the biology of the individual, the psychology that reflects the interaction of innate traits and experiences, and the larger culture.

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White Supremacists Blame Immigration, Asians for Virginia Tech Tragedy, ADL Says

In the wake of the tragic shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, extremists and white supremacists and conspiracy-oriented Internet forums and Web sites have focused on the ethnicity of the killer in an attempt to blame Asians, immigrants and other minorities for the deaths and to spread a message of hate, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

"Extremists are using the Virginia Tech shootings to spread a message of hate against immigrants, particularly Asians," says Abraham Foxman, ADL national director. "They are using the shooter's Asian ethnicity as an excuse to pile on hate against Asians, Blacks, Jews and immigrants. It is yet another example of how the neo-Nazis and haters are seeking to create an atmosphere of divisiveness around the immigration debate and to engender fear of minority groups living in America."

Some white supremacists groups have posted virulently anti-immigrant, racist and anti-Semitic videos on YouTube, the popular mainstream videosharing site, with deceptive titles such as "Virginia Tech Shooting Update" that make them appear as if they were legitimate news clips dealing withthe aftermath of the shooting, ADL says.

Additional examples are available on ADL's Web site.

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FM-Based Digital Alerting Available for Universities

A company is touting a unversity emergency-alerting system that may help prevent repeats of the murderous Virginia Tech shootings.

Global Security Systems (GSS) of Jackson, Miss., is now able to deliver the ALERT FM system to universities and colleges.

Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho's campus rampage left more than 30 dead before he turned his gun on himself. The gunman began his massacre in one campus building before breaking to send materials to NBC news and then returning to his killing spree. Some have said the campus should have had more warnings sooner after the initial killings.

ALERT FM is a personal alert messaging system that enables campus administrators, emergency management personnel or police to create and send notifications to students, staff, first responders or citizens, GSS says. The FM signal offers a unique advantage in that it has coverage for areas where cell signals may not operate, also in the case of a wider emergency a carrier signal can become overloaded and delayed or cease to operate. Additionally, there are no costs associated with message delivery, the company says.

Students and staff can receive alerts via ALERT FM receivers or USB sticks, as well as mobile devices equipped with a standard FM chip. By utilizing ALERT FM, campus security would have the ability to distribute real-time notifications for emergency situations, weather warnings, homeland security notices and evacuation instructions, according to GSS.

Many universities have a licensed FM station on campus or a commercial station serving the area. The alert messaging is delivered via a secure, private digital network, which utilizes existing FM standards and transmitters, GSS says. This system uses a standard FM commercial receiver chip inserted into an ALERT FM receiver or any mobile communication device. It provides mass distribution of emergency alert messages via a local radio station's FM infrastructure.

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