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Va. Tech Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit
Cho Had Harassed Two Female Students; Officials Concerned He Was SuicidalA court found that Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho was "mentally ill" and potentially dangerous. Then it let him go. In December 2005 -- more than a year before Monday's mass shootings -- a district court in Montgomery County, Va., ruled that Cho presented "an imminent danger to self or others." That was the necessary criterion for a detention order, so that Cho, who had been accused of stalking by two female schoolmates, could be evaluated by a state doctor and ordered to undergo outpatient care. According to the "Temporary Detention Order" obtained by ABC News, psychologist Roy Crouse found Cho's "affect is flat and mood is depressed. "He denies suicidal ideation. He does not acknowledge symptoms of a thought disorder," Dr. Crouse wrote. "His insight and judgment are normal." The evaluation came from a psychiatric hospital near Virginia Tech, where Cho was taken by police in December 2005, after two female schoolmates said they received threatening messages from him, and police and school officials became concerned that he might be suicidal. After Dr. Crouse's psychological evaluation of Cho, Special Justice Paul M. Barnett certified the finding, ordering followup treatment on an outpatient basis. On the form, a box is checked, showing that Cho "presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness." Immediately below it was another box that is not checked: "Presents an imminent danger to others as a result of mental illness." ...The student complaints that brought Cho to the attention of authorities came during the same time that creative writing professor Lucinda Roy went to administrators to voice her concern about violent themes in Cho's writing. Roy told ABC News that Cho seemed "extraordinarily lonely -- the loneliest person I have ever met in my life." [Roomate Joseph] Aust and another roommate, Karan Grewal, say they were aware that Cho had pursued women on campus. They said he also seemed to have an imaginary girlfriend, a supermodel named "Jelly." Read the whole, sad thing... Posted by: Dave D. 2007-04-19 |
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