Bullying & Mass/School Shootings, -DC sniper executed by state of Virginia

You still haven't provided me with a quote where Knight Muzic (or myself, or anyone else) has said that someone murdering people is okay if he had been bullied.

Knight has already said she does not condone, agree with, or approve of Cho's actions.

No amount of your quoting her comments and then asking below them (paraphrasing), 'What, this is not saying that you approve of what Cho did is it?' changes what Knight already said.

You keep asking Knight for clarification, and you keep saying that you don't understand what she means - when she's made herself perfectly clear.

Knight and I have both already said that we know some of what Cho was going through, but although she and I were bullied while growing up, neither one of us acted upon it and hurt anyone.

So I guess you mean that people taking psychology courses in universities should swich majors, and people going to medical school to become psychiatrists should quit, should drop out of med school?

Anyway...

As I've said before at this board, I have clinical depression, used to hold my anger inwards, and had an anxiety disorder.

If that fits your criteria of being 'mentally unstable,' then that's exactly what I am, and - according to you - it gives me special insights into why Cho did what he did.

So when I say Cho's reasons were "thus and so" why would you argue with me about it? Going by your rules, I'm the expert here, and you're not.

However...

One does not have to be mentally / emotionally unstable to understand some of Cho's motives:

If you have ever been hurt by someone or felt angry at anyone, SkylerKnows, then you too can understand to a point why Cho did what he did.

Understanding why a human being committed a murder isn't always an impossible task, as you are making it out to be, or is understanding the reasons for it the same thing as excusing it.

When police try to find enough evidence to put a murderer away in prison, one thing they look for is motive.

As it turns out, often times, police find that one person killed another for monetary reasons, say, for instance, to get their life insurance payment.

Police have seen cases where a husband has killed his wife because the husband was enraged to find out his wife had an affair with another man.

Sometimes people murder out of rage, fear, jealousy, or mental illness, or any combination of those things. Some people are just plain evil and enjoy harming others.

Cho's brain may not have shown any physical abnormaliities (in brain scans), but some mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain and not by physical trauma, deformation, or tumors.

The authorities searched Cho's room after the incident and found he had several prescription pill bottles in his name, one of which was for depression.

It sounds to me as though Cho may have had some kind of mental disorder other than depression (or in addition to depression)...

I say that because the news stories kept mentioning how his suite mates said Cho had made up an imaginary girl friend, which is abnormal behavior for someone of his age (he was in his early 20s).

Cho was also said to have stalked females on campus, which is also an indication that there wasn't something right going on in his mind.

So it sounds to me that Cho may have been out of touch with reality (in layman's terms: he was crazy).

No, you haven't, otherwise you'd accept Knight Muzic at her word:

understanding why someone did something is not (always or necessarily) the same thing as approving of it, although you keep making comments such as

When you say you understand what someone is going through, you're showing 'sympathy'.

...By not condoning that violence but 'understanding' it to me it is sympathizing with Cho and that's all there is to it.

Knight already said that she personally does not link understanding Cho with sympathizing with him.

(But so what if she was sympathizing with him over any abuse he received in the past? - more on that later in this post)

You're the one that keeps equating 'understanding' with 'sympathy.'

BTW: did you know that some people are employed for the main -or only- reason of understanding murderers and other criminals? For example:

- psychiatrists

- psychologists

- police officers (including hostage negotiators)

- profilers for the F.B.I. (Federal Burearu of Investigations) and police stations

- arson investigators

You're in effect telling Knight and myself that a police officer who is trying to "understand" a killer is being "sympathetic" with him.

Police officers and profilers try to understand those who do wrong so that they can catch the guilty and mete out justice.

One reason psychiatrists and psychologists try to "understand" those who have done wrong is to prohibit repeat offenses, if possible.

Such doctors try to find out if the person who acted out in violence has a mental disorder that can be treated with medication. If so, then perhaps the medication will keep the sick person from repeating any further harmful acts.

~But you want me to equate that with having sympathy for the person.

It's your opinion that Cho did not deserve sympathy at all for any reason.

If you perceive 'understanding' as having connotations of sympathy, I still don't see what the problem is.

Cho was a shy, quiet kid who was bullied or else ignored.

I not only understand it, but to an extent, I sympathize with it, and I can relate to it, because I went through it, and I also had a very shy, quiet nature when I was a kid.

~Do not take those comments and twist them to mean that I am excusing Cho's shooting spree, because I do not excuse Cho's shooting spree.

If you cannot accept me having sympathy for Cho for the abuse and bullying he took, that's your problem.

Cho must have been filled with a lot of pain and pent-up rage to do what he did (and of course, he likely had mental problems).

The fact that some people are filled with pain and rage and do not kill people does not negate the fact that Cho did indeed have problems and that he had suffered in his life.

As I read Knight's post where she said she had been abused, bullied, and teased, I felt sympathy (and empathy) for her for that.

From that, you want to make some case that I must somehow excuse what Cho did, when in fact, I do not.

Had Cho not taken his own life, he should have been tried in a court of law and, I believe, he should have received the death penalty for having taken the lives of the other Virginia Tech students.

Nope, as I just said, had he lived, he should've gotten the death penalty.

There have been too many cases in the past few decades of kids who complained of having been "bullied" and who then went on to take a gun to school and shoot the bullies for you to dismiss it all as nothing but 'the kids these days are selfish punks.'

Starting several years ago, news stories began coming out of Japan (which is usually pretty low in crime) where Japanese kids were killing themselves because they could no longer bear the bullying of their classmates.

One of them killed some of his bullying classmates either by gun or knife, I don't recall exactly.

You also have to contend with the fact that ADULTS who are facing stress, mental problems, personal problems, and / or workplace bullying from bosses also sometimes bring fire arms to work and shoot their bosses and co-workers.

British authorities finally woke up and realized how traumatic bullying can be to working people, so they formulated tougher workplace rules prohibiting bullying on the job.

In one book on work place abuse I read, one woman became so broken after daily abuse by one of her bosses that she went home and killed herself.

Some people kill themselves or others - not necessarily (or always) because they're "selfish" - but because they do not have the mental ability to cope rationally and/or normally with bullying, abuse, or other life problems.

P R E V E N T I O N

I think it's much better to have empathy and sympathy for such people and to help them before they break and lash out with violence.

The only solution you offer is to say, "ah who gives a crap if a person is bullied, let's not do anything about it, but if that guy 'loses it' and shoots people, we should sit around and bad-mouth him for it.'

I think you're confusing two things -
you're assuming that having sympathy for Cho in-so-far as the problems he had (mental problems, lonliness, feeling rejected, depression) is the same thing as having having sympathy for the manner in which he chose to deal with those problems (killing people), but the two are separate.

What if she is in that state right now, is feeling very low and dejected, possibly has mental health problems?

What would you do to get Knight from running down to her former college and shooting everyone up, just sit here and call her names, tell her she's "selfish" etc?

The fact is, there will be "another" Cho in the future.

There is an undeniable, established pattern that with some people, bullying plays a determining role in whether they lash out and hurt others or not. That is a fact.

Calling Cho names and saying he's "selfish" isn't going to help prevent the next Cho.

In the United States, we have the death penalty. If someone kills someone else, he may be put to death by the state.

Sometimes prisoners slated for death row sit in prison for years.

During that time, those prisoners are given medical treatment, food, clothing, water, and are allowed to read religious literature and be visited by religious clergy. Why do you suppose murderers scheduled for execution are permitted those things?

What do you make of imams, priests, and preachers who give assistance to murderers in prison (such as holding Koran / Bible studies, praying with the murderers), etc.?

EDIT.
I saw news coverage where the VA Tech students made temporary memorials for the fallen students and faculty.

In one such memorial, they had rocks with the names of all the dead on them - including one rock with Cho's name. Why, do you think, did they include Cho in that memorial?

When they released balloons in memory of the people who had died, they released thirty three balloons, not thirty-two. (Thirty-three includes Cho; the remaining 32 balloons were to represent students or faculty who had been killed.) Why do you think they did that?

Related:
End of the Spear - from Plugged In Online.com

Excerpt (this is based upon a true story and was made into a film called End of the Spear):

As the son of a murdered man, Steve [Saint], according to Waodani culture, is supposed to avenge his father's death.

He refuses to do so, even when the man [named Mincayani] responsible tells him of his guilt.

Rather, Steve [Saint] extends mercy. "No one took my father's life," he explains. "He gave it."

[Steve Saint and Mincayani, the man who killed Steve Saint's father, became close friends. Mincayani is a kind of god-father to Steve's small son, who Mincayani holds, plays with, and watches over]

.... Saint did inform them [the film makers], though, that before they could proceed they had to personally ask the Waodani [for permission].

They did.

And at first the answer was "No!"

It only changed after it was explained to the [Waodani] tribe how desperately America needed to hear their history.

Saddened by verbal details about recent North American killings (they were told about such tragedies as Columbine High School), they gave their blessing to the project, and in so doing— in a twist only God could pull off —became missionaries to us.

The result?

While not shying away from depicting the near-nakedness of the tribe or the violent acts they routinely engaged in, Green, Hanon and Ewing effectively relay the myriad of godly, life-changing messages contained in this gut-wrenching story. Forgiveness. Healing. Selflessness. Family. Love. Honor. Bravery. Kindness. The list goes on, yet maybe no message stands out as much as redemption.

Additional sites:

Official Site: End of the Spear

End of the Spear - Resources (e.g., the true story behind the film, etc.)

One section:

Steve Saint: The Legacy of the Martyrs

In 1956, Steve was five years old when his father flew into the jungles of Equador and dared to make contact with the most dangerous tribe known to man...

P.S. don't hold your breath waiting for Knight Muzic to discuss these issues with you any further.

I too might refrain for discussing them with you; I don't know.

I didn't intend for this to become a "gripe and bicker" thread. I really meant for it to mainly be about the effects of bullying (not to debate it but just to post information on it), or about news items about Cho himself.

I watched this show last night and will make some comments below this:
A Killer on Campus: A Bill Kurtis Special Report

A&E INVESTIGATES SCHOOL SHOOTINGS & THE TRAGEDY AT VIRGINIA TECH WITH "A KILLER ON CAMPUS: A BILL KURTIS SPECIAL REPORT"

....The one-hour special, hosted and narrated by Bill Kurtis, tries to answer the question why.

Exploring the tragic story from every angle the special features in-depth interviews with students, faculty and witnesses as well as experts in forensic psychology, criminal profiles and school shootings.

Delving deep into the mind of a killer the experts will offer perspective on what could cause a person to commit such a heinous act, examine the type of people who have been involved in recent shootings and hypothesize why there has been a proliferation of shootings over the past ten years.

The bottom line of this TV special is that 99% of the people on the show said that bullying was either the only reason, or one reason among several, as to why Cho killed people.

Another thing a few of those interviewed said: it wasn't just that Cho was bullied, but that he had been bullied for years, had held the anger of it inside, until one day he snapped and could take no more.

~And that is exactly what Knight Muzic and I had said in the "VA Tech Massacre" thread.

As for the 1% -
I believe it was the narrator of the show, playing devil's advocate, who voiced the view that some people out there may have, which is that it was our violence- saturated media that drove Cho to kill.

However, the people interviewed, (including: psychiatrists, former classmates of Cho's, an author who researched school shootings, and one man who had shot and killed a dorm mate of his in 1955), all said bullying was the only (or main, or 1 of several) reason(s), and not violence in video games, movies, and other entertaiment.

One individual didn't blame the media entirely, but only pointed out that someone who already is prone to violence might be influenced by movies and video games to actually kill others.

One guy who was interviewed, Dr. Bob Bechtel, shot and killed a former dorm mate of his in 1955.

Bechtel said the reason he was driven to do so was bullying, being picked on, and teased.

Bechtel could no longer endure the incessant teasing, got a shot gun, and killed a guy in his dorm.

Dr. Bechtel also said he believes that bullying was the reason why Cho murdered people, and it's the same reason why other school shooters kill.

The A&E press release describes Dr. Bechtel this way:

Dr. Bob Bechtel University of Arizona professor who shot and killed a fellow student who had been bullying him at Swathmore College in 1955

As for Katherine Newman, also interviewed for this special, here is her description:

Sociology Professor at Princeton University and author of "Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings"

She said there were similiar traits in all the school shooters over the past 2 - 3 decades, one of which is being bullied by other people.

Other consistent traits among school shooters:

- rarely speak, are very quiet;

- don't have any, or many friends; are socially awkward, have poor interpersonal skills; are not fully accepted by peers, so they are relegated to the fringes of their peers

- hold anger inwards (until it gets to be too much and they explode)

- do not like themselves

- sometimes mental illness was present

Ms. Newman said it was a combination of these traits and incidents in the lives of these kids that drove them to violence, that it was not any one feature.

Clint Van Sant, a former FBI profiler, was interviewed, as were two former classmates of Cho:

Karan Grewal - Suitemate of gunman Seung-Hui Cho

Chris Davids - Attended high school with gunman Seung-Hui Cho

The male highschool classmate of Cho's said Cho had been bullied in school. (A female classmate was interviewed on FOX news, and she also said Cho had been bullied in highschool.)

The college classmate said that Cho didn't seem to fit in and would not allow anyone to befriend him.

The former classmates said that Cho dealt with the bullying by doing and saying nothing.

Hence, Cho was holding his rage in - and it built up over the years.

I don't recall former special agent Van Sant saying "bullying" specifically in his analysis, but he said (unless I'm confusing him with Dr. Louis Schlesinger) something along the lines that it was clear (based upon Cho's final words, videos), that he felt slighted by the rest of the world, and his shooting was a way of showing them he had some kind of power over them, that he wasn't the weakling loser they thought he was.

A forensic psychologist was also interviewed, Dr. Louis Schlesinger.

So according to all these experts in this show, as well as one guy who was a school shooter, and people who had personally known Cho, what Knight and I said in the other thread was totally correct: bullying was a major reason among several Cho want on a shooting spree.

I've read several articles about Cho recently, and one of them said he has selective mutism.

After having read about it, I can tell you I have it, too, though it's not as severe now as it was before.

Read About Selective Mutism

When Shyness Turns Deadly

Aug 17 2007

As a personality trait, shyness probably ranks as one of the more benign characteristics that someone can possess, but new research suggests that at least some forms of shyness may have violent, and often deadly, consequences.

Analyzing eight school shootings over the past decade, psychologist Bernardo Carducci and his team at Indiana University found that the young shooters in these incidents shared nearly all of 29 personality and behavior characteristics that Carducci categorizes as cynical shyness.

This form, says Carducci, who directs the Shyness Research Institute, differs from normal shyness in that sufferers disconnect with others when their efforts at socialization are rebuffed. "These are people who want to be with others but who are rejected in a very harsh way," he says.

While normally shy people would continue to try, and eventually succeed, in connecting with others, cynically shy individuals internalize the rejection and alienate themselves.

"As they develop a sense of disconnect, they move away from people, and as they move away from people, that makes it easier for them to hurt them. These people are becoming a cult of one," he says.

Carducci presented his hypothesis at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association on Saturday, and notes that while his study did not include the most recent and deadliest school shooting, at Virginia Tech earlier this year, gunman Seung Hui Cho possessed 77% of the characteristics that Carducci isolated.

These include social withdrawal, preoccupation with weapons and violence, anger or violence reflected in his work or journal, and hostility toward classmates and teachers.

Susan Heitler, a clinical psychologist practicing in Denver and author of From Conflict to Resolution, notes that Carducci may have identified a subgroup of shy individuals who are especially sensitive emotionally.

"Someone who is shy is less likely to open up and have a communication flow with other people," she says. "So that increases the likelihood that any turbulence from a traumatic incident is bottled up and can grow like a mushroom."

If their shyness prevents them from sharing their pain with others, particularly close family members, then the feelings of humiliation and shame can get exaggerated.

"They have nobody to stand up for them and defend them, and develop a sense that no one is there to protect them and buffer them from the difficult world," she says.

This shyness may be innate in some people, meaning that they are more vulnerable to feeling hurt and ashamed, adds Elaine Aron, a psychologist and research associate at SUNY Stonybrook.

"Children with any kind of unusual temperament tend to be ostracized by their peers, and they become humiliated or ashamed," she says. "And when any one of us are ashamed, or backed into a corner, we can do all kinds of things, including acting out violently."

Identifying these individuals, says Carducci and Heitler, is critical so that parents, teachers and mental health professionals can intervene to halt this shyness from progressing into anger and rage against others.

Carducci acknowledges that the criteria he has isolated are neither complete nor absolute, but they are a first step toward understanding the students who perpetrate violence against their own schools, and hopefully preventing such events in the future.

doesn't look like anybody on this board of anti- madonna , would have something like this we all are speaking out what we feel of someone and get along mutually because of similar views .

but everybody has some capacity of being shy to some extent , depending on the circumstances ,
i used be afraid of the person at the fast food counter and couldn't even order fries ,
my parents scolded so much,
dad would say , if you want extra fries get it yourself ,
so i was badly craving some more and desperate, this made me over come my shyness at age 5-6.
another incident at mexican restauraunt for some cheese rice .
this was the last time i was afraid to order food .
i would also be afraid of meeting the clown at the pizza parlour downtown.
everybody would get the ballons except for me .

being if indian descent had to make me overcome my shyness , it was not possible to be shy all the time , you can't survive if your shy .
what if you can't do the home work , you would have to ask the teacher some guidance , interaction helps.

only maybe you could feel uncomfortable when you don't share the same views with others , that makes you hesitate to come forward and pushes you away.

ethnicity and colour of skin could be a problem ,

i had this korean friend of mine for four years , he was a year younger , and would come knocking at my door to play,
if i didn't he'd cry at my doorstep ,
he was very violent sometimes , i had to put up with him . he'd punch he'd push you down , simulate karate ,judo etc. on you.
sometimes he'd save my life too.
he wasn't shy at all , totally reverse .
yeah he'd simulate a toy gun and try to do bang bang to my whole family.
my dad would complain to his dad.
what an ass.

maybe they are like that ?

This post has been edited by anshirk on Aug 25 2007, 02:12 AM

As I was saying in one of the Virginia Tech threads, another case of another bullied kid who wanted to shoot his tormentors would eventually turn up.

And it has.

Until our culture actually starts to do something about bullying (instead of brushing it off as normal kid's behavior), this kind of thing will continue.

Teen Admits School-Assault Plot

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A 14-year-old boy admitted Friday that he planned a Columbine-style attack on a suburban Philadelphia high school, which could keep him in juvenile custody for up to 6 1/2 years.

Dillon Cossey's admission came about two weeks after authorities searched his Plymouth Township home and found a 9 mm rifle, about 30 air guns modeled to look like high-powered weapons, swords, knives, a bomb-making book, videos of the 1999 Columbine attack in Colorado and violence-filled notebooks.

.... Michele Cossey, 46, is charged with buying her son a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm semiautomatic rifle with a laser scope.

Cossey admitted telling a friend that he wanted to pull off an attack similar to the 1999 assault on Columbine High School in Colorado, saying, "the world would be better off without bullies," according to Castor [Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.].

.... Castor said Cossey described to police being bullied only a few times, but Farrell [the kid's attorney, J. David Farrell] believes it was more frequent.

"My investigation has really disclosed that he has been the subject of protracted and profound peer abuse his whole life. It drove him from school," Farrell said.

Doesn't mention bullying as a motive, but it is about a school shooting...

Nine die in Finland after YouTube post

By Sami Torma

TUUSULA, Finland (Reuters) - Seven children and a head teacher were killed when a pupil opened fire at a school in southern Finland on Wednesday, hours after he posted a video on YouTube foreshadowing a massacre there.

The 18-year-old, who walked through the corridors of Jokela High School firing into classroom after classroom with a .22-caliber handgun, died later in hospital after shooting himself in the head, his doctor said.

"Five boys, two girls and one adult woman were killed," police chief Matti Tohkanen told a news conference.

He later identified the woman as the principal of the school in Tuusula municipality, a town of 35,000 some 60 km (40 miles) from Helsinki.

The YouTube video, set to a hard-driving song called "Stray Bullet" by the industrial rock band KMFDM, shows a still photo of a low building that appears to be Jokela High School.

He said the gunman had been keenly interested in war history and extremist movements. Police did not identify the student, except to say he came from "a normal family" and had a father, mother and one brother.

The weapon used in the massacre was held legally and the gunman had obtained a permit for it just three weeks ago through a gun club, police said.

INTERNET POSTING

The YouTube video, entitled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007," was posted on Tuesday by a user called Sturmgeist89.

"I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," read a posting by a user of the same name.

"I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection."

"Sturmgeist" means storm spirit in German. Hours after the massacre, the user's account was suspended.

Lyrics to various KMFDM songs, including "Stray Bullet," were also posted on a web site maintained by Eric Harris, one of the gunmen in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

KMFDM's record company, Metropolis Records, said they were "extremely saddened" by news of the shooting.

The photo breaks apart to reveal a red-tinted picture of a man pointing a handgun at the camera.

"He (the gunman) was moving systematically through the school hallways, knocking on the doors and shooting through the doors," said Kim Kiuru, who was teaching a grade 8 class when the shooting began.

"It felt unreal, a pupil I have taught myself was running towards me, screaming, a pistol in his hand."

Jokela High School serves some 500 middle and high school students. "When police arrived there was complete chaos, pupils were jumping out of the building through the windows," said inspector Timo Leppala.

Outside a church community building near the school, a mother waited as a Red Cross bus pulled up outside and children from the school began to get off. She burst into tears when, through a window, she spotted her child, unharmed.

"This is a peaceful place, nothing like this has happened and nothing like this is to be expected either," Tuusula mayor Hannu Joensivu said.

Despite Finland having the world's third-highest per capita gun ownership, violent incidents are rare at Finnish schools. According to Finnish media, there have been four stabbings at schools since 1999. None of these were fatal.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told reporters the shooting was an "extremely sad event."

"This will leave a crack in the society we have been used to and have learned to be secure," he said.

The last major attack in the country occurred in 2002 when a young man killed including himself and six others in a bomb blast at a shopping mall in Helsinki.

(Additional reporting by Sakari Suoninen, Terhi Kinnunen and Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Students dress as Virginia Tech victims for Halloween

Dec 6, 2007

It started with a picture on Facebook and has now created a firestorm of outrage.

Two Penn State students, dressed as Virginia Tech shooting victims, at a Halloween party have enraged people from the Virginia Tech community, as well as the entire country.

10 On Your Side has seen all of the controversial pictures. They are of two Penn State students and are extremely graphic. Both are wearing Virginia Tech t-shirts and elaborate make-up. Both have bullet holes in their bodies.

....We talked with one of the students who wore the costume. He said the outfits were worn to a small party and meant to be private.

"It's not that it was funny, it's that we are notorious and infamous in the state college, so we have to do things that push the envelope just for shock value," he said.

Penn State officials were quick to respond to the costumes.

"We are appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity, indifference, and lack of common decency and sense by dressing up in this manner," the school said.

....After seeing the pictures, a Virginia Tech student created a Facebook group called, "People Against This Costume." Some of the upset members have left threatening messages to the Penn State students.

"This is a group of college students who now think it's trendy to be upset about their friends being killed," one of the two Penn State students who wore the costume said. "I don't know what they teach people in Virginia Tech, but at Penn State we don't learn to threaten people with murder to teach them that murdering is wrong."

He goes on to defend the pictures.

"The thing is, everybody's making a big stink about Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was 32 deaths out of the 26 thousand that happen in America everyday," he said. "That's the problem with college students. They all live in an ivory tower of privilege. They don't understand, when it all boils down to it, it's someone wearing a costume."

.... Reaction from Tech students and Blacksburg residents was disgust.

"That somebody would have the nerve to mock [the victims]. They were really good people," said local business owner, Carol Gwin.

When I was bullied in junior high back in the 1980s, the principal and the teachers didn't do anything about it, and some of them even blamed me for the abuse I received. I see from reading these news stories that things haven't changed.

Fayetteville student sues classmates over assault

Frustrated with the school district, parents sue bullies

A Boy the Bullies Love to Beat Up, Repeatedly

March 24, 2008

All lank and bone, the boy stands at the corner with his younger sister, waiting for the yellow bus that takes them to their respective schools. He is Billy Wolfe, high school sophomore, struggling.

Moments earlier he left the sanctuary that is his home, passing those framed photographs of himself as a carefree child, back when he was 5. And now he is at the bus stop, wearing a baseball cap, vulnerable at 15.

A car the color of a school bus pulls up with a boy who tells his brother beside him that he’s going to beat up Billy Wolfe. While one records the assault with a cellphone camera, the other walks up to the oblivious Billy and punches him hard enough to leave a fist-size welt on his forehead.

The video shows Billy staggering, then dropping his book bag to fight back, lanky arms flailing. But the screams of his sister stop things cold.

The aggressor heads to school, to show friends the video of his Billy moment, while Billy heads home, again. It’s not yet 8 in the morning.

Bullying is everywhere, including here in Fayetteville, a city of 60,000 with one of the country’s better school systems. A decade ago a Fayetteville student was mercilessly harassed and beaten for being gay. After a complaint was filed with the Office of Civil Rights, the district adopted procedures to promote tolerance and respect — none of which seems to have been of much comfort to Billy Wolfe.

It remains unclear why Billy became a target at age 12; schoolyard anthropology can be so nuanced. Maybe because he was so tall, or wore glasses then, or has a learning disability that affects his reading comprehension. Or maybe some kids were just bored. Or angry.

Whatever the reason, addressing the bullying of Billy has become a second job for his parents: Curt, a senior data analyst, and Penney, the owner of an office-supply company. They have binders of school records and police reports, along with photos documenting the bruises and black eyes. They are well known to school officials, perhaps even too well known, but they make no apologies for being vigilant. They also reject any suggestion that they should move out of the district because of this.

The many incidents seem to blur together into one protracted assault. When Billy attaches a bully’s name to one beating, his mother corrects him. “That was Benny, sweetie,” she says. “That was in the eighth grade.”

It began years ago when a boy called the house and asked Billy if he wanted to buy a certain sex toy, heh-heh. Billy told his mother, who informed the boy’s mother. The next day the boy showed Billy a list with the names of 20 boys who wanted to beat Billy up.

Ms. Wolfe says she and her husband knew it was coming. She says they tried to warn school officials — and then bam: the prank caller beat up Billy in the bathroom of McNair Middle School.

Not long after, a boy on the school bus pummeled Billy, but somehow Billy was the one suspended, despite his pleas that the bus’s security camera would prove his innocence. Days later, Ms. Wolfe recalls, the principal summoned her, presented a box of tissues, and played the bus video that clearly showed Billy was telling the truth.

Things got worse. At Woodland Junior High School, some boys in a wood shop class goaded a bigger boy into believing that Billy had been talking trash about his mother. Billy, busy building a miniature house, didn’t see it coming: the boy hit him so hard in the left cheek that he briefly lost consciousness.

Ms. Wolfe remembers the family dentist sewing up the inside of Billy’s cheek, and a school official refusing to call the police, saying it looked like Billy got what he deserved. Most of all, she remembers the sight of her son.

“He kept spitting blood out,” she says, the memory strong enough still to break her voice.

By now Billy feared school. Sometimes he was doubled over with stress, asking his parents why. But it kept on coming.

In ninth grade, a couple of the same boys started a Facebook page called “Every One That Hates Billy Wolfe.” It featured a photograph of Billy’s face superimposed over a likeness of Peter Pan, and provided this description of its purpose: “There is no reason anyone should like billy he’s a little b***h. And a homosexual that NO ONE LIKES.”

Heh-heh.

According to Alan Wilbourn, a spokesman for the school district, the principal notified the parents of the students involved after Ms. Wolfe complained, and the parents — whom he described as “horrified” — took steps to have the page taken down.

Not long afterward, a student in Spanish class punched Billy so hard that when he came to, his braces were caught on the inside of his cheek.

So who is Billy Wolfe? Now 16, he likes the outdoors, racquetball and girls. For whatever reason — bullying, learning disabilities or lack of interest — his grades are poor. Some teachers think he’s a sweet kid; others think he is easily distracted, occasionally disruptive, even disrespectful. He has received a few suspensions for misbehavior, though none for bullying.

Judging by school records, at least one official seems to think Billy contributes to the trouble that swirls around him. For example, Billy and the boy who punched him at the bus stop had exchanged words and shoves a few days earlier.

But Ms. Wolfe scoffs at the notion that her son causes or deserves the beatings he receives. She wonders why Billy is the only one getting beaten up, and why school officials are so reluctant to punish bullies and report assaults to the police.

Mr. Wilbourn said federal law protected the privacy of students, so parents of a bullied child should not assume that disciplinary action had not been taken. He also said it was left to the discretion of staff members to determine if an incident required police notification.

The Wolfes are not satisfied. This month they sued one of the bullies “and other John Does,” and are considering another lawsuit against the Fayetteville School District. Their lawyer, D. Westbrook Doss Jr., said there was neither glee nor much monetary reward in suing teenagers, but a point had to be made: schoolchildren deserve to feel safe.

Billy Wolfe, for example, deserves to open his American history textbook and not find anti-Billy sentiments scrawled across the pages. But there they were, words so hurtful and foul.

The boy did what he could. “I’d put white-out on them,” he says. “And if the page didn’t have stuff to learn, I’d rip it out.”

Jury convicts mom of lesser charges in online hoax

By GREG RISLING – 37 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Missouri mother on trial in a landmark cyberbullying case was convicted Wednesday of only three minor offenses for her role in a mean-spirited Internet hoax that apparently drove a 13-year-old girl to suicide. The federal jury could not reach a verdict on the main charge against 49-year-old Lori Drew — conspiracy — and rejected three other felony counts of accessing computers without authorization to inflict emotional harm.

Instead, the panel found Drew guilty of three misdemeanor offenses of accessing computers without authorization. Each count is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Drew could have gotten 20 years if convicted of the four original charges.

U.S. District Judge George Wu declared a mistrial on the conspiracy count. There was no immediate word on whether prosecutors would retry her.

"I don't have any satisfaction in the jury's decision," said Drew's lawyer, Dean Steward. "I don't think these charges should have ever been brought."

Tina Meier, the mother of the dead girl, said Drew deserves the maximum of three years behind bars.

"For me it's never been about vengeance," she said. "This is about justice."

Prosecutors said Drew and two others created a fictitious 16-year-old boy on MySpace and sent flirtatious messages from him to teenage neighbor Megan Meier. The "boy" then dumped Megan in 2006, saying, "The world would be a better place without you." Megan promptly hanged herself with a belt in her bedroom closet.

Prosecutors said Drew wanted to humiliate Megan for saying mean things about Drew's teenage daughter. They said Drew knew Megan suffered from depression and was emotionally fragile.

"Lori Drew decided to humiliate a child," U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien, chief federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, told the jury during closing arguments. "The only way she could harm this pretty little girl was with a computer. She chose to use a computer to hurt a little girl, and for four weeks she enjoyed it."

O'Brien, who pronounced the case the nation's first cyberbullying trial, said the jury's decision sent a worthy message: "If you have children who are on the Internet and you are not watching what they are doing, you better be."

Most members of the six-man, six-woman jury left court without speaking to reporters. One juror, who identified himself by his first name only, Marcilo, indicated jurors were not convinced Drew's actions involved the intent alleged by prosecutors.

"Some of the jurors just felt strongly that it wasn't tortious and everybody needed to stay with their feeling. That was really the balancing point," he said.

The case hinged on an unprecedented — and, some legal experts say, highly questionable — application of computer-fraud law.

Drew was not directly charged with causing Megan's death. Instead, prosecutors indicted her under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which in the past has been used in hacking and trademark theft cases.

Among other things, Drew was charged with conspiring to violate the fine print in MySpace's terms-of-service agreement, which prohibits the use of phony names and harassment of other MySpace members.

"This was a very aggressive, if not misguided, theory," said Matt Levine, a New York-based defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. "Unfortunately, there's not a law that covers every bad thing in the world. It's a bad idea to use laws that have very different purpose."

Drew's lawyer, Steward, contended his client had little to do with the content of the messages and was not at home when the final one was sent. Steward also argued that nobody reads the fine print on service agreements.

Prosecutors said Drew, her then-13-year-old daughter Sarah and Drew's 18-year-old business assistant Ashley Grills set up the phony MySpace profile for a boy named "Josh Evans," posting a photo of a bare-chested boy with tousled brown hair. "Josh" then told Megan she was "sexi" and assured her, "i love you so much."

Grills allegedly sent the final, insulting message to Megan before she killed herself in the St. Louis suburb of Dardenne Prairie, Mo.

Missouri authorities said there was no state law under which Drew could be charged. But federal prosecutors in California claimed jurisdiction because MySpace is based in Beverly Hills.

Sarah Drew testified she never saw her mother use the MySpace account. But Grills, testifying under immunity from prosecution, said she saw Drew type at least one message under the name Josh Evans.

After the suicide, Missouri passed a law against cyber-harassment. Similar federal legislation has been proposed on Capitol Hill.

The trial's outcome was a victory for prosecutors despite the lack of a felony conviction, said Nick Akerman, a New York lawyer who specializes in cases involving the federal computer act.

"What you learned is that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is an extremely important tool in the federal arsenal against computer crime," he said.

MySpace said in a statement that it "respects the jury's decision and will continue to work with industry experts to raise awareness of cyberbullying and the harm it can potentially cause."

There was a recent shooting where a crazy guy walked into a church and shot and killed the pastor. I put that stories (and other church shootings stories) in the "Anti-Christian Laws / Sentiments" thread.

---

At least 10 killed in Alabama shooting spree

By Verna Gates

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - At least 10 people including the suspected gunman and his mother were killed in a shooting spree and car chase in southern Alabama on Tuesday, authorities said.

The shooter, who was in his mid-30s, killed five people including the wife of a local deputy sheriff and her 3-month-old baby at a mobile home in Samson, according to Wynnton Melton, mayor of nearby Geneva, Alabama.

His other victims included his own mother, two people killed at a convenience store and a man in a pickup truck who died during a car chase as the gunman apparently fired at random, said Melton.

The shooting began in Samson, a small town in the southeastern part of the state and ended after a car chase and gun battle in Geneva, the county seat about 12 miles away, according to the FBI and local police.

Gunman Kills Nine People in Alabama ‘Shooting Spree,’ FBI Says

Gunman Kills 9 People in Alabama ‘Shooting Spree’
By Ryan Flinn

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- A gunman shot dead at least nine people today in southeastern Alabama before killing himself, the Alabama Department of Public Safety said.

The shooting started this afternoon in Samson, 102 miles (164 kilometers) south of the state capital, Montgomery, where four adults and one child were found dead in one house, according to a statement from the department. Two other people were found dead in other houses.

The shooter, whose name hasn’t been released, then traveled southeast to Geneva near the Florida border, firing at a state trooper vehicle along the way. A trooper was slightly wounded by broken glass, according to the statement.

“It was pretty much a shooting spree the entire way,” Angela Tobon, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s office in Mobile, Alabama, said by telephone.

The gunman killed another person at a store along the highway, and another at a service station, according to the statement.

Police pursued him to a metals plant, 2 miles north of Geneva, where he grazed the Geneva police chief with a bullet during a 30-round burst of fire, the department said. A bullet- proof vest saved the chief from serious injury.

The shooter then entered the plant, where shots were heard within minutes. Police found his body inside, dead from what they think are self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to the statement.

Investigators are examining a burned house in Coffee County where one body was found, an incident that may be related, the department said.

I think this story comes from Canada, but it fits what I see as a pattern in the USA and most other cultures:
the victims of the bullies get penalized for standing up for themselves, while bullies rarely get punished by the school system/ parents/ teachers/ police.

Bullied Girl Ends up in Jail

June 2009

Girls at ‘Jane’s’ local high school terrorized her. It started as name calling and spitting, and then progressed to bullying through MSN Messenger.

Anxious, overwhelmed and depressed, Jane sought help through Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket (ON). Here, she told a counselor about the bullying incidents and also shared her desire to “kill” the bullies, along with a “plan” for getting back at the main bully. The main plan involved Jane slicing the mouth of the main bully like the rag-doll character in Tim Burton’s animated film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

The crisis counselor then called the police on Jane, worried about the severity of the threat. Jane was jailed, released two weeks later under strict conditions, and was eventually acquitted.

Jane, now 17, launched a lawsuit of over $4 million against the Heath Centre, councilor and York Regional Police. She called the incident “just a fantasy” that eventually “spiraled out of control.”

But according to Bernard Dickens, a University of Toronto specialist on medical law, a patient’s relationship of confidentiality with a professional is nullified if they disclose the intent to do harm or cause future injury.

Allegations have also arisen that question the counselor’s level of coercement in Jane’s plan to “kill” the bullies; for asking about it on a regular basis so much that it could be construed as encouragement.

The heart of the issue lies in where the patient’s expectation of confidentiality starts and ends, as well as the responsibility of health workers to report violent threats to police.

If you, or you know of of someone who is being bullied or cyberbullied, you can report it anonymously by contracting your local police branch, on www.Cybertip.ca or contact www.KidsHelpPhone.ca to talk to someone about it.

Richmond High gang rape, lack of action from onlookers outrages community

Atianna Gibbs knows it could have been her sister. In a way, it was.

A hint of resignation tinges Margarita Vargas"s voice when she says, "They think it"s cool. They weren"t raised to respect girls."

A Richmond High School student named Alexandra, worried enough about safety to withhold her last name, believes the 15-year-old girl gang-raped on campus Saturday would have died if police hadn"t broken up the assault.

They live in Richmond, a tough town, tougher to be a woman. None of them ever wound up naked and bleeding on a campus bench after the school dance.

But they can picture it. It"s why they did what they did.

"No matter who she was, who she was before, she
doesn"t deserve that," Gibbs said.

They called the police. The police broke up the horror: a two-hour, alcohol-fueled gang-rape, as the homecoming dance waltzed on in the gym.

The investigation continued Tuesday, as police leafleted around the school to advertise a $20,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone who participated. Detectives continued wall-to-wall interviews of students and former students, having already arrested a 15-year-old boy and 19-year-old Manuel Ortega.

"This is a fluid investigation," Detective Ken Greco said. "There will be more arrests."

Police will meet with prosecutors Wednesday to discuss charges for those already in custody.

Meanwhile, young people in Richmond increasingly feel as though they are on trial
themselves, as a national chorus of gawkers judges them based on the inaction of the few who hooted and laughed, punched the girl as she lay semiconscious on a bench, even joined in the assault after word of it got around.

Strangers e-mailed the school, comparing its students to animals. That hurts, but it"s a familiar hurt for young adults growing up here.

Vargas only cares what one stranger thinks "” the victim "” and she wants her to know that it matters to someone.

"We called the police as soon as we found out," Vargas said. "As soon as we found out."

They were watching "The Proposal" on television Saturday night when word suddenly arrived from campus, two blocks away: A girl got drunk after homecoming. A bunch of guys stripped her naked and were using her. At school. Right now.

"I was on Emeric (Avenue) with some friends when some dudes walked up and were like, "There"s a drunk girl back there,— said Raul Rubio, who brought the news back to his girlfriend. "They said she was naked, and if you want to get f... ed, go back there."

Rubio did not. Nor did he want to risk arrest. He found someone with a phone as quickly as he could, he said. Several of the women at Vargas"s walked down to the perimeter of the crime scene after calling 911 but were too afraid to proceed further without police presence. Officers arrived quickly and broke up the trouble, arresting Ortega as they say he ran from them.

The victim remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition. This newspaper does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The victim left the dance by herself about 9:30 p.m. to get a ride home, Greco said. She walked up 23rd Street toward Emeric, intending to phone her father for her ride.

But before she did, a classmate called to her from behind a cyclone fence separating a campus courtyard from the street. He hopped the fence, and together they returned to the shadowy, hidden spot, where a group of people were drinking and hanging out.

The victim drank a large amount of brandy quickly, police say, and was quickly incapacitated. While semiconscious, she fell victim to rape. As many as seven people assaulted her as she lay on a bench, while others jeered, beat her, robbed her and took photos with their cell phones. Police say they don"t know exactly how many people watched during the course of the attack, but some reports have said as many 20.

For several days now, the community has struggled to understand how so many could stand by and watch, and fail to call police or alert other adults in the area.

"It"s all about, "What are others going to think about me if I snitch? If no one else is saying it, then it must not be OK" to speak up, said Tatiana Colon, director of education and youth services at the Family Violence Law Center in Oakland.

"The culture that we"ve created is that it"s OK to speak your mind if you"re being tough," she said. "Snitching is not something we equate with toughness. Being sensitive and nice and conscientious is not something we equate with toughness."

The lack of action on the part of bystanders will make recovery for the victim that much more difficult, said Marcia Blackstock, executive director of Bay Area Women Against Rape.

"To have other people witness and not do anything about it will really compound her issues," Blackstock said.

Witnesses who failed to report the crime could be charged with aiding and abetting if police can show their actions facilitated or goaded the perpetrators, said Dara Cashman, head of the Contra Costa District Attorney"s Office sex crimes unit. Passively watching the crime is not a crime itself unless the victim is under 14 years old.

Neil Smelser, a professor emeritus of sociology at UC Berkeley, said crowds in such situations often can be broken into four categories: those who perpetrate the action; those who actively encourage it but don"t participate; those who observe without supporting or speaking out against the action; and those who object to it and may or may not vocalize that to the rest of the group.

"They may think, "Why do I need to get involved in this if it doesn"t involve me?" Maybe they"re stunned, maybe it"s denial, or fear," Smelser said. "You don"t necessarily want to blame these people in not getting involved and calling police. You often have to avoid simple judgments and look at all the circumstances. It"s the kind of scene that encourages a helpless feeling."

For the school district"s part, officials plan to "review and revise our protocols," said Marin Trujillo, spokesman for West Contra Costa Unified.

"There were two site supervisors at the dance. One left at 9 p.m., had a previous engagement. Another was dismissed by a teacher. They were going to close the doors; there were four Richmond police officers there, and they felt they had enough security."

There was a shooting in Orlando this past week and one in Fort Hood, Texas.

Because the Fort Hood guy seems to have been motivated by Islam, I am going to post more links about that in one of our "terrorism" threads.

Suspect in Orlando office shooting held without bond

Nov 7, 2009

Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- The man accused of killing one person and wounding five others in a shooting at an Orlando office where he once worked made his first appearance in court Saturday, and was ordered held without bond.

Jason Rodriguez, 40, said little more than his name during the two-minute proceeding.

Judge Walter Komanski said the court found probable cause and factual basis for Rodriguez' arrest and said he would be held without bond on a first-degree murder charge.

Authorities said Rodriguez, a former employee of Reynolds Smith & Hills, entered the business' reception area in the 16-story Gateway Center building at 11:44 a.m. Friday and began shooting.

"He produced a handgun and started shooting in the reception area and continued shooting in the entire office area until he left," Lt. Louis Tanzi, violent crimes section commander for the Orlando Police Department, told reporters Friday.

According to the charging affidavit, the fatality occurred when Rodriguez entered the suite, pulled a handgun from a holster under his shirt and shot twice at an employee who was standing near the receptionist's desk.

He then entered a common work area "firing multiple rounds and causing injuries to several other employees," it says, citing a witness.

Hospital: Ft. Hood shooting suspect awake, talking

FORT HOOD, Texas — The man accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 at Fort Hood is able to talk, a hospital spokesman said Monday, but it's unknown when investigators might take advantage of his improving health to press forward with their probe into the shooting spree.

Authorities say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan fired off more than 100 rounds Thursday at a soldier processing center before civilian police shot him in the torso. He was taken into custody and eventually moved to an Army hospital in San Antonio, where he was in stable condition and able to talk, said Dewey Mitchell, a Brooke Army Medical Center spokesman.

He got what was coming to him:

D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad executed

Executed: DC Sniper John Allen Muhammad Put to Death
-The D.C. Sniper Who Terrorized Americans in 2002 Was Executed Tonight in Virginia

By JASON RYAN and PIERRE THOMAS
Nov. 10, 2009

Just after 9 p.m. this evening -- seven years and 12 days after he was captured and later charged with orchestrating a cold-blooded shooting spree, that killed 10 people in 2002 and terrorized the Washington, D.C., area for weeks, John Allen Muhammad, the convicted so-called D.C. sniper, was put to death by the state of Virginia.

He was killed by lethal injection, at Greensville Correctional Center, about an hour south of Richmond after Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, as expected, declined to grant a request to commute the sentence to life in prison.

He was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m., prison spokesman Larry Traylor told reporters. He said he didn't hear Muhammad utter a word the entire time. When asked if he had any last words, Traylor said Muhammad, "did not even look at us or acknowledge us."

The execution was witnessed by several relatives of the victims of the killings, which were carried out apparently at random over a three-week period in October 2002.