Another brutal crime with a VT connection

by | Nov 6, 2009 | Musings

The Army soldier charged with killing 13 and leaving another 30 injured at Foot Hood, Texas, graduated from Virginia Tech, served in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. (ROTC) and had “difficulties” that required counseling while interning at Walter Reed medical center in Arlington.

Once again, Tech is linked to a brutal crime that shocks the nation. While the University cannot be blamed with creating another mass murderer, it reminds people that the of the worst shooting rampage on American soil in April 2007 and comes on the heels of the murder of two Tech students shortly after classes convened this fall. Tech not makes more national headlines for its links to shocking crimes than for its national sports aspirations.

Other colleges and universities have crime but how many had a student with a history of mental illness kill 32 and wound many others? How many had a Chinese exchange student behead his former lover with a kitchen knife at an Au Bon Pain Cafe on campus? How many mourned the loss of two students killed in a national forest right after the start of the fall term? How many universities locked down the campus on the first day of a new term because a suspect escaped from a nearby hospital and killed a security guard and deputy sheriff?

Nidal Malik Nasar did not commit his bloody crime at Tech or even in the area, but news that the Arlington native graduated from Tech comes during another national story: The search for missing Tech coed Morgan Harrington, who disappeared while attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Why so much violence centered around one university in Southwestern Virginia?

I don’t know but I’m sure that question will become the subject more than one post-graduate thesis in the future.

6 Comments

  1. Georgia Reynard
    Georgia Reynard on November 6, 2009 at 10:53 am

    From Augusta Free Press:

    Tech officials confirm Hasan connection

    November 6, 2009 by chrisgraham 

    Virginia Tech has confirmed with the United States Army Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., that the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, Texas, once attended Virginia Tech.

    According to Virginia Tech records, Nidal Malik Hasan first enrolled at Virginia Tech for Summer Session II in 1992, and completed coursework in Spring Semester 1995. He received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biochemistry from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He minored in biology and chemistry.  

    Prior to enrolling at Virginia Tech, Hasan was a student and completed coursework at Barstow Community College in Barstow, Calif., and at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Va.

    Hasan was not a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, nor was he a member of any ROTC program at Virginia Tech.

     

  2. Doug Thompson
    Doug Thompson on November 7, 2009 at 6:35 am

    According to the Associated Press:

    Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.

    He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. Military records show he also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry there in 1997.

    But college officials said Friday that Hasan graduated with honors in biochemistry in 1995 and there was no record of him serving in any ROTC program.

    Based on my past experiences with Virginia Tech, I will must remain skeptical about their quick denial that Hasan was in their ROTC program. The University has a record of playing fast and loose with the truth when it comes to controversies. To be fair, military records are not always known for their accuracy either so we will have to see what surfaces as the investigation progresses.