Compare and Contrast Columbine and Virginia Tech
The Columbine Shooting and Virginia Tech. shooting were called similar in various ways. They were both declared a national tragedy 13 people killed total in the Columbine and 33 in the Virginia Tech shooting. Though the two incidents were similarly done by psychopaths, there were differences in the details of both shootings, the reactions of society, and upcoming psychological development. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were responsible for the 13 deaths during the Columbine Shooting on April 20, 1999.
The main difference between Harris and Klebolds plan and Cho’s attacks were Harris and Klebold left documentation of their plans. They made many blogs on how to make home-made explosives, made videos documenting explosives, ammunition, and weapons that they had obtained illegally. They kept journals of their progress and who they wanted to get revenge on. They even narrowed down the dates of when they planned the shooting to April 19th, the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, and April 20th, the 110th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birthday. They killed 13 people plus themselves over a one hour time period.
This first red flag went up when they got caught stealing computer equipment and during the court hearing the judge decided that both boys needed psychiatric help. Harris was later put on an anit-depressant call Zoloft. Researchers now say this medication might have caused the different thoughts of suicide and the rage he felt inside. Some psychologists also say after being arrested it pushed them over the edge. At 11:10am on April 20, 1999 Klebold and Harris arrived at the school. Nearly five minutes later they carried two 20-pound propane bombs into the cafeteria and placed then near the tables, the bombs were set to explode but never did.
At 11:19am a witness heard Eric yell, “GO,GO,GO! ” At that time they began heading toward the school and started shooting. By noon, SAWT was stationed outside the school and ambulances began taking wounded students to near-by hospitals. At 11:37am the shooters entered the library reloading their guns, the worst still to come, killing more students and faculty. At 11:42 Harris and Klebold then walked out of the library ending the massacre. Then to end it all the boys then stood there and shot themselves.
Dylan was armed with an Intratec TEC-DC9 (9-mm semi-automatic handgun) attached to a strap slung over his shoulder (under coat), Savage 311-D 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun (barrel sawed down to approximately 23 inches, initially half-hidden in Dylan’s cargos). Eric was armed with a 10-shot Hi-Point model 995 carbine rifle on a strap (under coat), Savage-Springfield 67H 12-gauge pump shotgun he called ‘Arlene’ (named after a Doom character – initially in one of the duffels carried to the top of the grassy knoll — stock and barrel sawed off, reducing the entire gun to 26 inches).
Seung-Hui Cho made April 16, 2008 go down in history being known today as the worst school shooting ever. In a two and a half hour time frame 33 people died including Cho and many others injured. Unlike the Columbine Shooting there were no real warning signs that Cho would do such a devastating thing. He left no documentation of his plans that investigators know of today. The only so-called warning signs were On November 27, 2005 a female student reported to campus police that she was receiving unwanted phone calls and visits from Cho. In December 2005, another female made a complaint about getting unwanted instant messages from Cho.
On that same day another person told campus police that Cho might be suicidal. After these complaints Cho was sent to a mental health center near Radford Virginia. Students were becoming afraid to come to class because of Cho’s sullen demeanor, and also because he was taking pictures of other students during class. (http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/18175525/) The actual event of the Virginia Tech Shooting was completely different than the Columbine. Overall, 33 people died in the VT shooting. The two guns that were said to be used by Cho during the shooting were obtained legally.
The shooting began at 7:15am at West Ambler Johnston coed dorms. Nearly two and a half hours later, police responded to a 911 that reported shots fired at Norris Hall. Police soon discovered this was not something to joke around with noticing the front door was chained from the inside. Officers finally forced their way into the building but it was too late, they announced 31, including Cho himself, were dead. As a total 33 people died in this tragic massacre. In this situation there wasn’t much time to stop the shooting because nobody had any idea of what was occurring until two hours later.
The main question society asks now is, was there a way to prevent both of these tragic shootings from happening? After gathering information from both the Columbine and Virginia Tech shooting a conclusion was drawn to this question. There were many warning signs to these events and maybe if the shooters received the correct psychiatric help these events could have been prevented. Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman, was later diagnosed with an anxiety disorder called selective mutism. Selective Mutism is a rare yet extreme form of social anxiety.
This may not; however been the direct cause of Cho’s violent behavior. (Grohol) Harris, Klebold, and Cho were all said to have psychological problems. A psychological disorder is said to be deviating from the normal. The question then comes up, what is normal considered? An abnormality is said to be deviating from the average. These so-called abnormal people fail to adjust to everyday living. They may be so unhappy that they refuse to eat, cannot hold a job, and even worse become suicidal. (Understanding Psychology p. 448) Many people such as Harris, Klebold, and Cho go through psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis is defined as therapy aimed at making patients aware of their unconscious motives so that they can gain control over their behavior. There are so many mental disorders that psychologists have a hard time classifying a person with a certain disorder. There is no doubt though in psychologists’ minds that Harris, Klebold, and Cho had a psychological disorder that was never taken care of. Now society and the victims’ families are all left wondering if these disorders would have been kept under control if these tragic events would have still happened.
Psychologist have now gone more into depth with their research of people that fall under these stereotypes to see if they can possibly prevent more attacks like these. However, it was also stated that all three of these gunmen sought help from psychologists. Maybe, the psychologists they sought help in didn’t see the warning signs that the other people around them or they may have even misdiagnosed them. Even though a lot of these questions will never be answered, psychologist cannot be the ones to blame in situations like this.
There are many questions that will never be answered in the psychological therapy that the shooter received. Events like these make society more aware of people and the world around them. People who actually knew theses gunmen now regret the fact that they didn’t see the signs sooner. It is tragic events like these that make people more aware of other around them, and make them realize that anyone is capable of doing such a horrible thing. Events like these have also changed the way that psychologists do their analysis, and diagnose patients.
Though the two incidents were similarly done by psychopaths, there were differences in the details of both shootings, the reactions of society, and upcoming psychological development. Even though both of these events were tragic and still hard to understand, they helped with the development of research in psychological diseases. Maybe after two events that were very similar happened psychologist will try to prevent any other tragic school shootings. Grohol, John M.. “Va. Tech Shooter Cho Had Social Anxiety Disorder. ” 08/27/2007 22 Mar 2009 ;http://psychcentral. com/blog/archives/2007/08/27/va-tech-shooter-cho-had-anxiety-disorder/;.
