Virginia failures 'must be fixed'
Found on BBC News on Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Key organisational failures that left Virginia Tech student Seung-hui Cho free to kill 32 people should never be repeated, Virginia's governor has said.
Tim Kaine lamented a series of "missed opportunities" that allowed Cho to remain at large despite serious concerns over his mental health.
The independent eight-member panel also concluded that though Cho had shown earlier signs of mental instability, college staff had not intervened effectively.
Mr Kaine, who commissioned the report, said a combination of poor college administration, inadequate mental health services and policing errors allowed Cho to live among the students he would eventually attack.
It's easy to be smart afterwards. If cockpits would be sealed, 9/11 would not have happened. If kids couldn't get guns, Columbine would not have happened. If the O-ring seal would have been checked, the Challenger would not have exploded. And if you plan to lock up everybody who appears to be mental, well, you can easily lock up half the population.