--- In [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > In a message dated 4/20/07 6:39:12 A.M. Central Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > It is reported that VT killer Cho had once stalked a campus girl and > that he was arrested but that she refused to press charges. > > Had she pressed charges, do you think that could have had some effect > on him? Could it have led to him being evaluated and put in a better > position that he had been in to get help? > > As such, do you feel that the girl who refused to press charges > contributed to the horrible events at VT? > > Yes , her compassion, if that is what it was, backfired.
Actually, there were at least two stalking incidents reported to the campus police. After the second one, one of Cho's roommates called the police again to report that Cho was talking about committing suicide. At that point he was taken by police to an outpatient psychiatric facility for evaluation, but legally they couldn't do more than hold a few counseling sessions and prescribe some medication. They urged him to continue counseling, but he refused. The point being that he was in the best possible position to get help but wouldn't take advantage of it. It isn't at all clear whether the woman pressing charges would have made a difference. He then managed to stay under the radar until the rampage. Even his roommates didn't have any further warning that he was going to blow, even when they saw him that very morning, and by that time he'd apparently been planning the shooting for at least a month.
