The Virginia Tech shooting, the deadliest in the history of this country, leaves us wondering how this tragedy happened, and if anybody would have been able to mitigate the rampage.
Although the shooting was an isolated incident, the idea that a sociopath shot and killed people in the campus dorms and then walked into classrooms amongst unsuspecting students on a college campus hits close to home for students around the country. The sad reality is that neither the university nor any of the students expected this massacre, although we easily can say in hindsight that the university could have taken actions to avoid many of these casualties.
In a similar incident last December, a man shot at police on the campus of Villanova University and ran free. The university administration decided to lock down the campus until the police deemed the area safe for students.
The university could have distributed a mass e-mail warning the students, at the very least, that there was a shooting on campus and that the authorities did not capture the culprit. The idea of someone doing what that murderer did is so unfathomable that canceling classes seems farfetched.
We cannot blame the university for not taking a different course of action, because they likely assumed the worst was over after the first set of shootings. All we can ask for is that universities across the country take heed and plan for these worst-case scenarios. Unfortunately, Virginia Tech set the precedent for these situations to occur in the future.
In the wake of this incident, we want to prevent this type of tragedy, but we need to restrain ourselves from viewing the world with a cynical eye as a matter of vigilance. These events happen in the world more often than anyone would like, yet we can only hope that we ourselves are spared.
It is important that, after an event such as this, we do not jump to conclusions about the identity of the shooter nor take hasty actions in the name of justice.
We mourn the death of those 32 innocent students and hope for the recovery of the 29 wounded.
