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Murder In America

S2 Ep117: VIRGINIA - The Virginia Tech School Shooting, PT. 1: Seung-Hui Cho

Murder In America

Blood In The Sink Productions

True Crime

4.88.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The deadliest school shooting in American history took place in the year 2007, on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. On that fateful day, 33 individuals would lose their lives, and a further 23 would be injured. Join us as we explore what led up to this horrific event, watch as a University failed time and time again to protect its students, and attempt to determine what drove a man to commit such a disturbing act of violence.
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SOURCES:
“Emily Jane Hilscher.” Virginia Tech, 2023. https://www.weremember.vt.edu/biographies/hilscher.html (https://www.weremember.vt.edu/biographies/hilscher.html)


“How Virginia Tech massacre unfolded.” NBC News, April 19, 2007. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18164428 (https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18164428)

Kapsidelis, Thomas. “Virginia Tech Shootings.” Encyclopedia Virginia, 2020.

“Killer’s manifesto: ‘You forced me into a corner.’” CNN, April 18, 2007. https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html)

Kleinfield, N.R. “Before Deadly Rage, a Life Consumed by a Troubling Silence.” The New York Times, April 22, 2007. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/us/22vatech.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/us/22vatech.html)


“Mass Shootings at Virginia Tech Addendum to the Report of the Review Panel.” 2009.


Pelletiere, Nicole. “The massacre at Virginia Tech remembered 10 years later.” ABC News, April 13, 2017.


“Roommates Give a Glimpse Into the Mind of a Killer.” ABC News, April 18, 2007.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3052025 (https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3052025)


Santora, Marc. “Roommates Describe Gunman as Loner. The New York Times, April 17, 2007. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17cnd-ROOMMATE.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17cnd-ROOMMATE.html)




“The Phone Call from Room 211 (lost unreleased recording of 911 call from the Virgina Tech shooting, 2007.”
The Lost Wiki
, 2021.

“The 'unremarkable sale' of gun to student killer.”
NBC News
, April 18, 2007.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18170761 (https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18170761)

“The Worst Massacre in American History – Virginia Tech Massacre.” Documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FfMXjsR4YM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FfMXjsR4YM)

“Virginia Tech Shooting.”
History
, April 13, 2011.

Additional Sources added by Lisa at Murder in America.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Warning, the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences.

0:04.0

We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers

0:07.8

even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.

0:12.0

Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.

0:18.0

This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

0:22.0

As we all know by now, school shootings are very prevalent here in America.

0:28.0

It is currently May of 2023.

0:31.0

And in the last five months alone, there have been 19 school shootings.

0:36.0

And that's only in schools.

0:39.0

We aren't even talking about the 217 mass shootings as a whole.

0:45.0

It's alarming how every year gun violence is getting exponentially worse with no signs of improvement.

0:53.0

Back in 2007, mass shootings were not a huge part of American culture just yet.

0:59.0

It was a time where you didn't really have to think about where the exits were every time you walked into a room.

1:06.0

Now years earlier, the nation was rocked by the Columbine School shooting, but even then,

1:13.0

that was considered a pretty rare horrible tragedy, something that occurs every once in a blue moon.

1:20.0

So on April 16, 2007, as over 34,000 students and employees made their way over to Virginia Tech,

1:29.0

by doubt mass shootings were at the forefront of anyone's mind.

1:34.0

But unbeknownst to everyone, the 23 year old student named Sung Wichou was gearing up for the day that he had been planning for months.

1:45.0

Inspired by the Columbine massacre, this lone gunman was ready to take revenge on society.

1:52.0

After he left his dorm room that day, he would go to campus, chain up the doors to Norris Hall,

2:00.0

and commit the worst school shooting in American history.

2:04.0

This is the story of the Virginia Tech Massacre.

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