When I heard about it, I immediately thought of Ole Miss. University, Ms., is Ole Miss, so it is a small town within the city limits of Oxford, Ms. (has its own PO). There were only about 10K undergrads when I was there, but when you think of what could have happened and how devastating it would have been, it is difficult to continue the train of thought. My best friend from high schools sister and her husband are both professors at VT, so it kinda hits close to home on that front.
The media is pretty much worthless, so try not to even engage with them. All that sells is disaster, tragedy and 'sin'. After 9/11, imagine how many people became depressed because of nothing but non stop footage of the disaster-for weeks after it happened. I imagine the same will happen here, though not as long a time frame. Everyone wants to blame someone for the issue, but there is often no justification for blame. When there is someone responsible, they don't want to take responsibility (a largely American attitude for the last few decades), but I don't see how any blame could be assigned here. The first murders were tragic, but there was no way to link them to the later tragedy in the time frame they had. What good would notifying everyone have been (one of the blame games I've heard-why didn't they tell us about the first two murders, etc.)? Would it have stopped anything more than a negligible percentage of students from going to class that day? Highly doubtful because, as I mentioned, what reason was there to link it together. The media have become th eworst dogs in America, and that says alot when America breeds some of the nastiest dogs out there...
There isn't much we can learn from this, either, which is frustrating. This was a random act. There may have been signs that pointed to the guy being off a bit, but only a close friend would be able to piece together an idea that something bad was coming. All we can do is try to be prepared if something like this happens (through actual defense training, etc.). It is a horrible tragedy and likely the worst part of it (moving beyond those whose worlds have been destroyed due to a loss) is that it could happen anywhere. That is one thing I knew we take for granted as Americans. We feel safe just about anywhere we go (in our own country, our leaders have made sure that no one outside our country will tolerate us...). My thoughts are definitely with those struggling here. It cuts deep, like the Russian school attack where they killed young children. Completely senseless and what do you gain? Humans are the worst animals on the planet. Period...
