(RUMOR) Chicago Sun Times: Gunman May Have Been Chinese Man on Visa...

[Fergasun]

Link is here. (http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/343354,vatech041607.article)

Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.
The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said.
Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said.
Interesting if this is true...

[Predicto]

Link is here. (http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/343354,vatech041607.article)

Interesting if this is true...

In what way? All them furriners are eeevull?

[Fergasun]

I'm still not jumping to any conclusion... the chains and the probing of security are interesting...

[RobertGoulet]

In what way? All them furriners are eeevull?

I dont want to speak for the poster but maybe he meant that it would be interesting if it turns out he is working for a terrorist organization. Another front on the "war on terror": college campuses

[Fergasun]

... and heck... I don't know how things are at Tech, at UVA most of the sparkies and physics grad students were Chinese...

[China]

... and heck... I don't know how things are at Tech, at UVA most of the sparkies and physics grad students were Chinese...

What are sparkies?

[Fred Jones]

I going to be careful here, but just thinking out loud.

Usually, if an incident is cut and dry the law enforcement types come out and say so. Just look at the last couple of major incidents. You knew pretty much what happened. It takes a couple of days to get the full why, but it wasn't that much different from what the media was guessing at.
Here, they are quiet on the bad guy and have not really come out and provided a lot of information. Now, this could be just making sure they get it right, but it could also mean something further.
Testing of security is very disturbing if true. That implies pre-planning and intention of bad things.

[f_trizzy]

cue Bill O'Reilly

[portisizzle]

I going to be careful here, but just thinking out loud.

Usually, if an incident is cut and dry the law enforcement types come out and say so. Just look at the last couple of major incidents. You knew pretty much what happened. It takes a couple of days to get the full why, but it wasn't that much different from what the media was guessing at.
Here, they are quiet on the bad guy and have not really come out and provided a lot of information. Now, this could be just making sure they get it right, but it could also mean something further.
Testing of security is very disturbing if true. That implies pre-planning and intention of bad things.

i hope that this is not true

[Fred Jones]

i hope that this is not true

Fortunately or unfortunately, I will eventually find out.

[DjTj]

Testing of security is very disturbing if true. That implies pre-planning and intention of bad things.This whole thing smells of pre-planning ... but even still, the motive is really unclear - I don't look at Chinese graduate students and think terrorist organizations ...

[Fergasun]

Another rumor on the Internet:
- Gun was bought in March from a shop in Roanoke. 2 guns (I would look up the make but the place with the "info" has crashed).
- Last name of the perp is Cho (Chinese or Korean?). He had a visa/green card and all of his background paper checked out.

Also, ABCNews is reporting they are looking for another "person of interest". This is sometimes the new PC way of saying, "suspect". This "person of interest" is not in police custody. I'm not sure if this is the same "person of interest" they questioned after the first shooting, since they stated they were interviewing a "person of interest" when the second shooting happened.

Even though they are looking for a "person of interest", they haven't released a description of said person.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Are people in the country on a visa allowed to purchase guns?

[Lady Brave]

Are people in the country on a visa allowed to purchase guns?
Unfortunately, yes. There are certain criteria non citizens must meet, but it's pretty simple.

[DjTj]

Another rumor on the Internet:
- Gun was bought in March from a shop in Roanoke. 2 guns (I would look up the make but the place with the "info" has crashed).
- Last name of the perp is Cho (Chinese or Korean?). He had a visa/green card and all of his background paper checked out.If he is recently from China, his last name could not be "Cho" ... that would have to be Korean - if Chinese it would have to be from Hong Kong or Taiwan or from before pinyin was standarzied.

It sounds like he was here on a student visa, in which case he would have gone through all our post-9/11 background checks.

Also, ABCNews is reporting they are looking for another "person of interest". This is sometimes the new PC way of saying, "suspect". This "person of interest" is not in police custody. I'm not sure if this is the same "person of interest" they questioned after the first shooting, since they stated they were interviewing a "person of interest" when the second shooting happened.
Even though they are looking for a "person of interest", they haven't released a description of said person.
I'm starting to think the two shootings are unrelated, but we'll have to wait for more information tomorrow.

Are people in the country on a visa allowed to purchase guns?Google tells me: http://www.vrolyk.org/guns/alien-laws.html

Looks like it is legal in most states ... Virginia doesn't allow aliens to have concealed weapons permits but it doesn't look like there's a ban on purchasing guns.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Unfortunately, yes. There are certain criteria non citizens must meet, but it's pretty simple.
That's just crazy.

[Lady Brave]

Looks like it is legal in most states ... Virginia doesn't allow aliens to have concealed weapons permits but it doesn't look like there's a ban on purchasing guns.

Federal law allows aliens to purchase firearms. All they have to provide is the following:

Valid state issued ID
90 days consecutive proof of residency
A valid alien registration card or INS issued 1-94 number

Non-immigrants, which is what he probably was, must meet one of five exceptions as well. My guess is the exception he would have had to meet is that he possessed a valid hunting license. If he didn't have a license and someone either issued him a permit or sold him the firearm directly, is definately screwed.

[Enter Apotheosis]

In what way? All them furriners are eeevull?

No, only the ones with unproven ties to Al Quaeda :doh:

[Fergasun]

If the guy claiming to have sold the guns is true... shooter used a Glock 19 and Walther P-22. He also said there is surveillance of the purchase, and the paperwork checks out.

Again, this is the thread for rumor-mongering...

[Larry]

Well, if he was a Chinese citizen, then that means we're going to be invading Korea a month before the election. South Korea.

(Hey, it's a thread for rumor and speculation.) :)

[Dan T.]

The shooter has been id'ed as a 23-year old senior English major from Northern Virginia, who came to the U.S. from South Korea as a child.

Name: Cho Seung Hui

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041700563.html?hpid=topnews

[Sisyphus]

I'm starting to think the two shootings are unrelated, but we'll have to wait for more information tomorrow.

Ballistics tests have shown that the same gun was used in both shootings.

[DjTj]

The shooter has been id'ed as a 23-year old senior English major from South Korea, lately from Northern Virginia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041700563.html?hpid=topnewsSounds like he was more Asian-American than Asian ... an undergrad from NOVA who immigrated at a young age and is majoring in English, so I would guess he is probably a citizen.

[Dan T.]

Sounds like he was more Asian-American than Asian ... an undergrad from NOVA who immigrated at a young age and is majoring in English, so I would guess he is probably a citizen.


Correct. My post was badly worded, so I edited it. He is of South Korean descent, came to this country as a child, and lived in Centreville.

[Fergasun]

DjTj,
From latest news conference it sounded like he is a resident alien. So he didn't come on a Visa, but was here on a green card.

It's still unknown if he was Asian or Asian-American. It's possible he was part of the non-integrated sub-culture, Korean at home, hanging with Korean friends. Or he couldn've been more Korean-American.

What the hell though. He lived in student housing off-campus.

[Sisyphus]

It's possible he was part of the non-integrated sub-culture, Korean at home, hanging with Korean friends.

It's only speculation, but the idea of a non-integrated Korean sub-sculture in Centerville Virginia doesn't seem that likely to me.

[Dan T.]

What the hell though. He lived in student housing off-campus.

The WP article said he lived on-campus in Harper Hall, a dorm next to Ambler-Johnson.

[Air Force Cane]

I don't think many Americans will blame South Korea regardless.

I am just glad that the shooter wasn't either a: combat vet, Israeli, or NRA member.

[Fergasun]

It's only speculation, but the idea of a non-integrated Korean sub-sculture in Centerville Virginia doesn't seem that likely to me.I can only speak up to 3 years ago, but you could find plenty of working Koreans who didn't speak English, sent their kids to school and Korean church. I'm not sure if they have set up Korean schools like here in LA, but a lot of those kids immigrated lated and didn't speak great English, thus the only peer group they had were other later immigrants... and they spoke mostly Korean amongst themselves. This is anecdotal...

[Destino]

Can we make this about the person and not the group?

WTF does it matter if he spoke Korean or ****ing Marsian? He was a young man that for whatever reason chose to ruin the lives of 32 families and take the lives of 32 bright innocent people. This isn't Korea's fault. This isn't because he may have been bilingual (which is an advantage, not a fault). This isn't because he had Korean friends.

It's because he was either crazy or evil. Him alone.

[DjTj]

I can only speak up to 3 years ago, but you could find plenty of working Koreans who didn't speak English, sent their kids to school and Korean church. I'm not sure if they have set up Korean schools like here in LA, but a lot of those kids immigrated lated and didn't speak great English, thus the only peer group they had were other later immigrants... and they spoke mostly Korean amongst themselves. This is anecdotal...Yeah, it's definitely possible, but it's less likely in Fairfax than it is in Los Angeles, and it's less likely in Centreville than it is in Annandale ...

Still, it is interesting that he hasn't gotten his citizenship yet - the reports make it sound like he has definitely been here long enough, but maybe he was just lazy about it. These are things I'm curious about though - about his family and where he grew up, although I wonder if these details might be reported better in the Korean-American press than in the mainstream media ... we still don't really have a motive.

It doesn't sound like he was a very recent immigrant and there doesn't appear to be any real international angle to it right now - at the very least we know he made it through almost four years as an English major at Virginia Tech so he must have been pretty well assimilated into American culture ... so crazy that he would do this just maybe a month before (I assume) he would be graduating.

Can we make this about the person and not the group?

WTF does it matter if he spoke Korean or ****ing Marsian? He was a young man that for whatever reason chose to ruin the lives of 32 families and take the lives of 32 bright innocent people. This isn't Korea's fault. This isn't because he may have been bilingual (which is an advantage, not a fault). This isn't because he had Korean friends.

It's because he was either crazy or evil. Him alone.I think it's fair to ask why he was crazy or evil ... and I think it's fair to delve a little bit into his world. We're all just looking for answers, and every little scrap of information helps, especially in this thread, which Fergasun has dubbed the repository for rumor and speculation.

[Sisyphus]

Still, it is interesting that he hasn't gotten his citizenship yet - the reports make it sound like he has definitely been here long enough, but maybe he was just lazy about it.

The N-400 application is $400, and as your green card is surrendered you need to purchase a US passport if you want to re-enter the country.

There's also the hassle angle too of spending many, many hours in line and dealing with the CIS. If your green card isn't up for renewal, unless you need citizenship for a job application, I know others who have postponed it.

[Rocky21]

WTF does it matter if he spoke Korean or ****ing Marsian? He was a young man that for whatever reason chose to ruin the lives of 32 families and take the lives of 32 bright innocent people. This isn't Korea's fault. Nice soapboxing. No one claimed this was Korea's fault. I think it's pertinent to wonder how acclimed a foreign national is to our culture - considering it is the worst mass killing in U.S history and all.

[DjTj]

The N-400 application is $400, and as your green card is surrendered you need to purchase a US passport if you want to re-enter the country.

There's also the hassle angle too. If your green card isn't up for renewal, unless you need citizenship for a job application, I know others who have postponed it.The CNN article says:
A department of Homeland Security official said Cho came to the United States in 1992, through Detroit, Michigan. He had lawful permanent residence, via his parents, and renewed his green card in October 2003, the official said.http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/vtech.shooting/

So he has been here since he was 8 years old, which would make it pretty hard not to assimilate, but he made a conscious choice at age 18 not to get his citizenship. I know a lot of people that came to the U.S. around that age and just about all of them became citizens when they turned 18...

[SkinInsite]

Nice soapboxing. No one claimed this was Korea's fault. I think it's pertinent to wonder how acclimed a foreign national is to our culture - considering it is the worst mass killing in U.S history and all.

Because Korea is known for their school shootings while it's unheard of in the US.

[Destino]

Nice soapboxing. No one claimed this was Korea's fault. I think it's pertinent to wonder how acclimed a foreign national is to our culture - considering it is the worst mass killing in U.S history and all.

I don't agree. I think it's using a tragedy to take a political shot.

[Sisyphus]

I know a lot of people that came to the U.S. around that age and just about all of them became citizens when they turned 18...

Who knows? If you're going through the hassle of dealing with the CIS for green card renewal you might as well do citizenship. Some people think incorrectly that they can't be drafted (if the military draft was reintroduced).

My kids hadn't reached 18 yet but we got them their US passports.

[Zen-like Todd]

I don't agree. I think it's using a tragedy to take a political shot.


I agree. He's a typical NOVA kid. Asians, Indians, kids from around the world... immigrants, children of diplomats, ambassadors, etc. They all assimilate pretty quickly. If he's been here since he was 8, he's not "South Korean" in the sense that it should be used as his identifying characteristic.

[China]

Can we make this about the person and not the group?

WTF does it matter if he spoke Korean or ****ing Marsian? He was a young man that for whatever reason chose to ruin the lives of 32 families and take the lives of 32 bright innocent people. This isn't Korea's fault. This isn't because he may have been bilingual (which is an advantage, not a fault). This isn't because he had Korean friends.

It's because he was either crazy or evil. Him alone.

:applause: Well said.

And Fergasun, you never answered my question: who or what are sparkies?

[Sisyphus]

:applause: Well said.

And Fergasun, you never answered my question: who or what are sparkies?

To me sparkies was slang for electricians, but he was talking about engineering students?

[Fergasun]

I guess some of the rumors turned out to be false, and some to be true... that's why I love the Internet.

I was pretty mad when I saw (on Fox News Scroll) that Republic of Korea was worried about a back-lash against South Koreans for the shooting. Did they just assume all Americans (or Virginians) are stupid white people who are full of judgement and predjudice?

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a media spotlight shone on the Korean culture in Northern Virginia... other than running dry cleaning business not much is known about Cho's parents. But I'd guess like any Korean household they put such a high value on education that it probably puts some strain, especially when you can contrast that with "lax" American parents... this seems like part of Cho's logic from the note he left.

It scares me a little to hear my Korean wife say that she wants our children to go to Harvard... and talks about SAT classes and what not... their culture really is ultra-ULTRA competitive about this... she grew up in Korea and was in class for like 12+ hours a day... no proms... no fun... no rest... and it does show in her personality. That's not to say Cho had a similar experience... just relating some anecdotes.

Oh, and after the Imus incident and this incident and some of the other right leaning (more like right bent-over) websites I can see why people would label them racist... my goodness... they freakin' screamed "Al-Queda" every chance they could and speculated that, "He was Korean, probably learned how to shoot in their military... sleeper agent... ChiCom"... reminded me of Dale from KoTH.