Author Topic: Va. Tech stabbing suspect charged with murder (Read 4145 times)

geronimotwo · « **on:** January 22, 2009, 06:17:12 AM »

" BLACKSBURG, Va. – A graduate student from China has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of a female student on Virginia Tech's campus, the first killing there since a deadly mass shooting in 2007.

An electronic alert system revamped after the massacre warned students to stay in place while police investigated the incident around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday — about half an hour after the suspect was taken into custody. They were cleared to resume normal activity about an hour later.

The woman, who was also a graduate student but was not identified, was stabbed to death at a cafe in the Graduate Life Center. Police believe she knew the man accused of attacking her, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu, the school said in a news release. He was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond.

It was unclear early Thursday morning where he was being held or whether he had an attorney.

Campus police were called to the scene around 7:06 p.m., and Zhu was taken into custody minutes later, the school said. Responding officers found him and a knife they believe was used at the scene.

Students who live in the building were allowed to come and go, but others were asked to stay away from the area. The hall would re-open later Thursday morning, the school said.

Virginia Tech added text messages and other ways of warning students of possible danger to its system of e-mail alerts after Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself in April 2007.

The revamped alert system was first used last November when an exploded cartridge from a nail gun produced sounds similar to gunfire near a dormitory. During that scare, police searched a residence hall before determining the sounds came from the tool. "

what a tragedy....again. i'm sure the family will feel better to know that he was a law-abiding criminal.....he didn't bring a gun on school property.

the part that scares me is....

Quote

An electronic alert system revamped after the massacre warned students to stay in place while police investigated the incident

that's right, "stay in place" (does anyone know the actual message?)....don't help......don't run.....

Rudy Kohn · « **Reply #1 on:** January 22, 2009, 09:10:15 AM »

Quote from: geronimotwo on January 22, 2009, 06:17:12 AM

that's right, "stay in place" (does anyone know the actual message?)....don't help......don't run.....

[gun control logic] Well, if the killer stops moving, isn't that a good thing? [/gun control logic]

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #2 on:** January 22, 2009, 09:16:06 AM »

Technically it's a GREAT thing.

I want all murderers to stop moving.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #3 on:** January 22, 2009, 12:51:31 PM »

Gotta be hard to be an Asian-ish-looking student at V Tech, these days.

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 22, 2009, 02:50:19 PM »

Quote from: Mr. Tactical pants on January 22, 2009, 12:51:31 PM

Gotta be hard to be an Asian-ish-looking student at V Tech, these days.

That's the first thing that jumped out at me too.

What's up with the immigrant and exchange student community at VaTech?

And: if only this woman had a lawfully (or even unlawfully) concealed firearm accessible to her...

Manedwolf · « **Reply #5 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:00:27 PM »

Quote

BLACKSBURG, Virginia — Virginia Tech Police say a female graduate student from China who was stabbed to death on campus was decapitated.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,481406,00.html

That is seriously messed up.

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:10:44 PM »

Okay, she was stabbed to death in a cafe on campus.

Police investigated at 7:45PM, arrest this guy at 8:15PM.

On my old college, the cafe on campus was open until 1AM. Did this happen while the cafe was open?

He stabbed her and killed her, in a public and populated place (at least manned by a counter barrista), and chopped her head off in a cafe?

That is a sick puppy and he needs putting down, if true.

Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas · « **Reply #7 on:** January 22, 2009, 03:36:01 PM »

Wow. FWIW, there was a stabbing at my school recently. The girl wasn't killed in this case. If rumors are true, this was also an international student as victim.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011309dnmetutdstabbing.b5ba52.html

Matthew Carberry · « **Reply #8 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:19:46 PM »

Here's my groundless supposition.

They knew each other, maybe via Facebook or something, she came over to study. He was listed as an emergency contact for her as he was probably one of the only people she knew there.

She gets there and his fantasy, developed over time, of her being his girlfriend isn't reciprocated, he was always "just a friend" to her.

He's now lost face (talked about her to friends and family maybe?) and, after being gently rebuffed a final time, takes his revenge to regain it.

He didn't get angry at the cafe because after several such prior interactions and much time spent alone and stewing about it he had already determined what he would do if she said no and was thus calm about it.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #9 on:** January 22, 2009, 05:47:43 PM »

Quote from: AZRedhawk44 on January 22, 2009, 03:10:44 PM

Okay, she was stabbed to death in a cafe on campus.

Police investigated at 7:45PM, arrest this guy at 8:15PM.

On my old college, the cafe on campus was open until 1AM. Did this happen while the cafe was open?

He stabbed her and killed her, in a public and populated place (at least manned by a counter barrista), and chopped her head off in a cafe?

That is a sick puppy and he needs putting down, if true.

The local news station said that there were seven witnesses there while he was cutting her head off.

Quote

When the first officer arrived, Chief Flinchum says the officer found both the victim Yang, and Zhu. The officer noticed Zhu had blood on his clothes, and Yang had been decapitated. Flinchum described it as a “gruesome scene.“

Chief Flinchum told reporters that to the best of his knowledge, no one intervened during the attack, and there were approximately seven witnesses.

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/new_river_valley/article/virginia_tech_murder_graduate_student_decapitated/25622/

Seven people who didn't try to, oh, STOP that?

That what we are as a society, now? Deer in headlights, don't all pick up heavy crap and throw it at his head?

:|

vaskidmark · « **Reply #10 on:** January 22, 2009, 06:36:34 PM »

Quote

Seven people who didn't try to, oh, STOP that?

That what we are as a society, now? Deer in headlights, don't all pick up heavy crap and throw it at his head?

But that would violate the Honor Code!

No, it's not because of any damned Honor Code -- it's because kids nowadays do not know WHAT to do. Nobody has ever told them anything but to call 911 if anything goes wrong. So they all stand around not making eye contact (another thing they have been indoctrinated to do) so they end up worthless as witnesses.

I'm going to ask my State Senator if it's not too late to introduce a bill making it a requirement that you have to know how to take care of yourself (Think Heinline's list - which I'm too lazy to look up) before you can graduate from high school, let alone be admitted to a college graduate program. Yep! I'm at the point where I'm saying "There oughta be a law against that!"

stay safe.

skidmark

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #11 on:** January 23, 2009, 05:37:45 AM »

I don't want to say anything to justify these people. In the Army, they told us to always intervene if we saw trouble like this while off-duty, it was part of our training. But I don't know if I could have really intervened - some people 'freeze up' when confronted with a scary event like this, and you can't really know what you will do in an event like this until you've been there.

So while I agree with the previous poster, I will withhold judgment.

vaskidmark · « **Reply #12 on:** January 23, 2009, 08:03:31 AM »

Micro -

I agree that some people will freeze up. But I've also seen where some of those who froze were able to get unstuck if provided either direction (orders) or example.

It takes great courage to step into a scene as ugly as that had to have been. But courage is not just found in the big, burly, hairy-chested types. I'm also aware that given the location of this crime, the probability is high that all of the students who witnessed it were foreign, and probably Asian, which probably means a cultural stereotype I disagree with of a disposition against violent intervention.

I think what I am trying to express, along with everybody else, is the thought that any intervention at the beginning of the event may have resulted in a significantly different outcome. Thanks to AlQueda we have seen just how difficult it is to cut off a head with a big knife. From the reports I do not think he had a "big" knife. Sure, the woman would have suffered some serious cuts, which may or may not in themselves been fatal. We will never know. But we also will never know if any intervention would have saved her because nobody did anything but sit still.

On the other hand we have a member here who did intervene in a somewhat similar situation, and he seems to have suffered no more than a few - to him and most of us - meaningless comments about being a big brute. On the other hand, he did get a date out of the deal - worth of which to be determined later. We will never know, had he not intervened, if the target of the crazy person would have been injured/killed. But I would prefer to live with that uncertainty than the one we have in this case of the Va Tech beheading.

Which brought me to my comment about "there oughta be a law."

stay safe.

skidmark

ShelleyB. · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2009, 08:32:25 AM »

Let's hope the remainder of students have the sense to call for CCW carry on campus.

If not, looks like the university needs to make the campus a "knife free zone."

Manedwolf · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2009, 09:29:23 AM »

Quote from: MicroBalrog on January 23, 2009, 05:37:45 AM

I don't want to say anything to justify these people. In the Army, they told us to always intervene if we saw trouble like this while off-duty, it was part of our training. But I don't know if I could have really intervened - some people 'freeze up' when confronted with a scary event like this, and you can't really know what you will do in an event like this until you've been there.

So while I agree with the previous poster, I will withhold judgment.

Improvised weapons, which should be taught in schools as a way of interrupting rampages.

You don't need to run up and get hurt, you can use ranged, improvised weapons.

What's in a cafe? Napkin dispensers, heavy and easy to throw. Porcelain coffee cups, if they use them. Objects off the counter. Backpacks. Small, heavy objects, aim for the head as if throwing a baseball or rock. Large objects, try to hit them in the body and arm holding a weapon. Lightweight chairs...it's hard to for them stab someone if there's chairs flying at them, or if the chairs spin and entangle them even briefly with chair legs...

I really wish they'd teach that.

If even half the kids in a classroom threw chairs, the rampager would be unable to stab or aim.

zahc · « **Reply #15 on:** January 23, 2009, 11:17:17 AM »

Quote

FWIW, there was a stabbing at my school recently. The girl wasn't killed in this case. If rumors are true, this was also an international student as victim.

I also go to that school, some girl got stabbed in the neck. I guess it happened in ECSN? But anyway now on all the doors on campus they have a mug shot of the perpetrator with typical "if you see this person call the police, walk in groups at night blahblahblah" statement. It would be funny if it wasn't sick. Here's to hoping the TX legistature passes the concealed carry on campus bill.

Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas · « **Reply #16 on:** January 23, 2009, 11:33:16 AM »

Quote from: zahc on January 23, 2009, 11:17:17 AM

I also go to that school, some girl got stabbed in the neck. I guess it happened in ECSN? But anyway now on all the doors on campus they have a mug shot of the perpetrator with typical "if you see this person call the police, walk in groups at night blahblahblah" statement. It would be funny if it wasn't sick. Here's to hoping the TX legistature passes the concealed carry on campus bill.

It was ECSS, 3rd floor, according to the email. I went to their townhall forum to see what they'd say. No restrictions would be made on knives. No metal detectors. They were focused on improving their response/getting the word out quicker. They just suggested typical platitudes for keeping safe. "Use the blue phones in an emergency" "call an escort" "walk with your keys out".
Oh, and the last remark from the audience was a girl mentioning the CC on campus bill. In neutral terms, but it was pretty clear she supported it. So it got a bit of public hearing.

RaspberrySurprise · « **Reply #17 on:** January 23, 2009, 11:36:50 AM »

"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" -Edmund Burke

How can these people see something like this happen and do nothing about it? How can they live with themselves? I know I'd never be able to stop thinking "what if I had done something?" for the rest of my life.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #18 on:** January 23, 2009, 11:42:09 AM »

Quote

What's in a cafe?

You really, really don't want to be trying silly crap like that on my campus.

Really, really you don't.

For one, our campus security have guns. And they have an honest-to-god rapid-reaction-team.

Two, even in this silly country, a lot of students moonlight as rent-a-cops. More guns.

Three, my faculty have special courses for Army officers and Border patrol personnel. All of them carry either pistols or carbines.

You can arrange for armed security even in a society like mine, with its idiotic gun laws and mind-corrupting socialism.

K Frame · « **Reply #19 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:02:36 PM »

Give him back to the Chinese.

He is a Chinese National, she was a Chinese National.

They won't take 500 years to convict the guy and execute him.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #20 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:11:36 PM »

Quote from: Mike Irwin on January 23, 2009, 02:02:36 PM

Give him back to the Chinese.

He is a Chinese National, she was a Chinese National.

They won't take 500 years to convict the guy and execute him.

This is true. There will either be a lethal injection van or a pistol shot.

41magsnub · « **Reply #21 on:** January 23, 2009, 02:24:40 PM »

Quote from: Manedwolf on January 23, 2009, 02:11:36 PM

This is true. There will either be a lethal injection van or a pistol shot.

And some deserving soul will get an organ transplant! Win all around!

Lee · « **Reply #22 on:** January 23, 2009, 05:53:41 PM »

Quote

This is true. There will either be a lethal injection van or a pistol shot.

Well...that, or he'll be making furniture for Target or Walmart.

Wasn't that knife wielding be-header on the Canadian bus from China also? Is this a trend now?

News:

Author Topic: Va. Tech stabbing suspect charged with murder (Read 4145 times)