Bloggers shoot high, and they either hit. Or miss… wildly.
For the last 3 hours I’ve been trolling the web trying to debunk or confirm whether this VA Tech alumni was indeed the now dead culprit of today’s VA Tech shooting spree.
Of course all those guns and the fact that his Facebook listed him as an alumni of VA Tech didn’t make a dismissal any easier.
Finally with the help of some co-workers, and utlizing Virginia Tech’s online directory, I placed phone calls to former classmates and friends of the student. All the friends’ names were listed in his Facebook profile.
His friends claimed he had made online posts earlier in the afternoon, well after the shooter had been declared dead. This of course would have confirmed he was not the killer.
Strange thing occurred. The posts were no longer there! Turns out the student deleted posts from his facebook and his own live journal which would have proved he was not the shooter! But why?
Well he lays out his reasons in his now open admission (just recently posted on Drudge as well).
The only response I have to his post is that it is one thing to try to make an example of how bad communication can lead to the wrong conclusion. It is another thing however to misdirect people by deleting posts which had been present earlier.
It’s a dangerous game he played. And considering the online site stats he has published, he seems to think it’s worth it.
Check out this story for the full write-up:
Worth it? Haven’t really figured that one out yet. A crazy story to tell the kids? Perhaps. =P
Wayne Chiang
October 30th, 2007