Sources: College gunman left note

[orleans]

Source: Tribune national correspondent

Published April 17, 2007, 10:48 AM CDT


BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The suspected gunman in the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, Cho Seung-Hui, was a troubled 23-year-old senior from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room, sources say.

The note included a rambling list of grievances, according to sources. They said Cho also died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms.

Cho had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behavior, according to an investigative source, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women.

A note believed to have been written by Cho was found in his dorm room that railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070417vtech-shootings,0,1137509.story?coll=chi-homepagepromo440-fea

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Ok, googling "Ismail Ax" gets nothing definite

but it looks like it's going to give the terrified another reason to blame Muslims.

Anyone heard what discipline he was studying?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Heard he was studying English

I've been waiting for the Islamic bogeyman to rear its ugly head.

[underpants]

7. Link to private myspace page under Images

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=64967

[Duppers]

11. PUNK!

Sick fuck. He need help.

"He had a rotten soul." - Du poster

[Up2Late]

24. You think he's one of these guys? I tried going to MySpace, but like you said...

...the profile is set to private.

Edit: I just sent that profile an "Add" request, if they guy is still alive, maybe he'll add me and I'll be able to see the rest of the profile.

[Up2Late]

26. I found another picture with that name at this Blog too...

<http://narcissik-ax.skyblog.com/>

Anyone know what language that is? I think it's French, but it doesn't translate very well (via Computer translation), so it might be a Vietnamese dialect of French.

Also, I read a mention that it could be a "Gamer screen name," my guess would be for a "First Person Shooter" on-line game, like Doom, Quake or Duke Nukem. I know there are several others like those, but those are the ones I know.

[displacedtexan]

42. The text looks like it reads...

"mé cops à moi,
mohcine alias "the man with the smoke" à gauche & ismail ax au milieu."

Looks like "Friends of mine,
Mohcine (aka "the man with smoke") on the left & Ismail Ax in the middle."

[Irreverend IX]

39. All Asians must really look alike to you...

Cause none of them look like the pictures of the perp.

[watrwefitinfor]

10. "Ishmael's ax"

"Ishmael" or "In the Depths" by Emma Southworth in 1876 - can be read at Project Gutenberg.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ishmael, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

"But there, my dear! that boy has slipped out, and is cutting the wood; I'll go and do it for him," said Reuben, as the sound of Ishmael's ax fell upon his..."

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15774/15774-h/15774-h.htm

Then google on Emma Southworth.

I don't know if this is relevant or not.

Wat

[suffragette]

23. These paragraphs are interesting

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15774/15774-8.txt

It is not to be supposed that Claudia's favor of Ishmael could be
witnessed by his companions without exciting their envy and dislike of
our youth. But the more strongly they evinced their disapproval of her
partiality for Ishmael, the more ostentatiously she displayed it.

Many were the covert sneers leveled at "Nobody's Son." And often Ishmael
felt his heart swell, his blood boil, and his cheek burn at these
cowardly insults. And it was well for all concerned that the youth was
"obedient" to that "heavenly vision" which had warned him, in these sore
trials, not to ask himself--as had been his boyish custom--what Marion,
Putnam, Jackson, or any of the "great battle-ax heroes" would have done
in a similar crisis; but what Christ, the Prince of Peace, would have
done; for Ishmael knew that all these great historical warriors held the
"bloody code of honor" that would oblige them to answer insult with
death; but that the Saviour of the world "when reviled, reviled not
again"; and that he commended all his followers to do likewise,
returning "good for evil," "blessings for cursings."

All this was very hard to do; and the difficulty of it finally sent
Ishmael to study his Bible with a new interest, to seek the mystery of
the Saviour's majestic meekness. In the light of a new experience, he
read the amazing story of the life, sufferings, and death of Christ. Oh,
nothing in the whole history of mankind could approach this, for beauty,
for sublimity, and for completeness; nothing had ever so warmed,
inspired, and elevated his soul as this; this was perfect; answering all
the needs of his spirit. The great heroes and sages of history might be
very good and useful as examples and references in the ordinary trials
and temptations of life; but only Christ could teach him how to meet the
great trial from the world without, where envy and hate assailed him; or
how to resist the dark temptations from the world within, in whose deep
shadows rage and murder lurked! Henceforth the Saviour became his own
exemplar and the gospel his only guidebook. Such was the manner in which
Ishmael was called of the Lord. He became proof against the most
envenomed shafts of malice. The reflection: What would Christ have done?
armed him with a sublime and invincible meekness and courage.

I don't know if it's relevant or not either. Haven't read the book, just searched for ax in it and found the above.

[suffragette]

13. Found "Ishmael's Ax" in a poem

http://www.terrain.org/poetry/18/hadley.htm

Goat Ranchers

By Yonder Ridgeline

They’d come up the arroyo road to their old homestead,
Where they lived when they were married those fifty years ago.
“You sure been married a long time,” Drum says.
“It’s like yesterday,” says Ishmael. “It goes by like nothin’.
But Sunshine, she was wild then.
She used to ride this dirt road a-horseback.
She’d jump right over these cattle guards here.”
They walked off,
Went all over the canyons and ridgelines.
Went where they’d herded goats when they were kids,
Went where they were lovers,
Went where they were married here, those fifty years ago.
Traces of Ishmael’s ax on the scarred trunks of the cedar trees,
Crossing the canyons and winding arroyos.
One wheel of their daughter’s baby carriage
Still lies in the leaves by their old homestead,
A mound of adobe bricks melting onto the rocky ground.
They ran a herd of five hundred angora goats all over the ridges.
Sunshine and Ishmael slept with them at night,
To keep the lions and the bobcats from carrying them away.
Our paths cross again later in the day, by the edge of the shadows,
Drifting along the canyon road, under the cottonwood leaves.
“Sunshine found a coffee pot a hangin’ on the pasture fence post,
Way off by yonder ridgeline,” says Ishmael.
“She packed it all the way back here to the canyon.”
“I’ll take it home to put a bird’s nest in it.
I’ll hang it from the eaves of our roof,” says Sunshine.
They disappear, walking along the dusty arroyo road,
Old shadows drifting away between the patches of sunlight,
Mixing with the light wind in the cottonwood leaves,
Sunshine, and Ishmael, and a coffee pot.

— Voices of Sunshine and Ishmael



I bolded the phrase. No clue if it's relevant or not.

Elsewhere, found a reference to Abraham smashing idols with an ax. Ishmael was his son. But, it was Abraham, not Ismael/Ishmael, wielding the ax.

[truthisfreedom]

2. "troubled."

Somehow the word just isn't descriptive enough.

[olddad56]

4. setting a fire in a dorm room and stalking women might have been a warning sign.

[lancdem]

5. Wouldn't that be grounds for expulsion?

[Frank Cannon]

8. When I went to college, some idiot lit the dorm on fire...

while involved in a flaming paper wad fight with a friend of his. (Seriously.) And, yeah, he was expelled immediately, brought up on criminal charges, and we never saw him again.

Guess the standards were different back then.

[bluestateguy]

12. Something similar happened in my dorm freshman year

It was an arson, and the perpetrators were never caught.

[slackmaster]

19. I knew a guy who got expelled for dropping a condom water balloon off the roof

Someone could have been seriously hurt.

[Irreverend IX]

38. Campuses will do anything...

To minimize the number of reported crimes on the premises. Don't want to scare parents away from sending kids there. A lot of stuff gets shoved under the carpet as a result.

[Frank Cannon]

40. It's too bad

It doesn't seem like it's been THAT long since I went to college, but idiots who set the dorm on fire when I went to school were immediately expelled and referred to local law enforcement. It was a no-brainer, for crying out loud. And although our campus had a "no gun" policy, no one was shot and killed in my four years of attendance!

I can't believe that much has changed in twenty-some years. If things HAVE changed, we need to take a look at some serious systemic problems.

[benEzra]

25. That'd be grounds for barring you for life from so much as touching a gun

under Federal law, i.e. the Gun Control act of 1968.

[Lerkfish]

6. ya think?

[Warpy]

9. Gee, you think?

I guess they don't take harassment of women seriously at engineering schools now, no more than they did 40 years ago when I was a student at one.

Setting a fire was a little more serious. He should have been kicked out for that one.

The only thing that seems clear is that he was totally bonkers.

[clar8130]

15. What can be done about warning signs?

A number of years ago, my husband was employed in an academic department at one of Texas' finer universities, when one of the graduate students began exhibiting a lot of warning signs. The campus police were aware it, as were the graduate school, the department staff and faculty, and the office for foreign students (the kid was on a student visa). All tried to help, but since his weird and increasingly paranoid behavior was not illegal, and since he could not be forced into a hospital against his will, nothing got done. My hubby was very worried that the student would walk into the office with a gun, and I think the staff were all keeping their office doors locked. Luckily, the student had a complete breakdown and was hospitalized, and then sent back to his country, before he became violent (although there is no way to know for certain what he might have done).

So this guy in Virginia was exhibiting a lot of warning signs, and I bet they didn't go unnoticed. But I've got to wonder if there was nothing could be done without violating his civil rights...

[slackmaster]

18. Arson isn't just a warning sign

It's a serious crime.

[slackmaster]

17. That one should have gotten him booted from school, sent to jail

:argh:

[gratuitous]

14. We don't have the resources to help every troubled kid

We bought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, so there's no money available for luxuries like mental health referral services.

[Zenlitened]

16. I agree. Sometimes it seems we have so few tools for reaching out to people in crisis.

Mix in defensiveness or anger on the part of the person needing help (common emotions in someone who is hurting, BTW) plus the need to strike a balance between liberty and legitimate concern... it's an incredibly difficult situation.

:(

Related: "Va. Tech gunman's disturbing writings had raised concerns"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2810594

[Rocknrule]

20. Just wait for the speculation

Thompson: "Ismail Ax" is the code to some videogame
Phelps: "Ismail Ax" is Korean for "the fag takeover begins now"
etc.

[demobabe]

21. He's a dyslexic Muslim

When he said "Ismail," he scrambled it and it should have read "Islami"

so there you have it... "Islami Ax," killer for Al Qeada sent by Osama Bin Laden personally...

I wouldn't be surprised if Faux News came up with something so idiotic as this...

:eyes:

[rocktivity]

22. He sets his room on fire, stalks women,

and gets to remain ENROLLED, never mind on campus?

:headbang:
rocknation

[Up2Late]

27. I just found this post on someone's blog. (Warning: Contains vile Language)

NOTE: These are not my words, but are the words of an "anti-Jew" Arab (most Arabs are Semitic people also)

I'm not sure why the person who posted it mis-translated his own words (His words in English don't match the translation by Google Translator)

<http://cube47.blogspot.com/2007/04/ismail-ax.html#c5435122393609765106>

At 11:34 AM, Anonymous said...

"the man with the smoke"

ismail axe means "we love america". we as arabs and muslims love you americans. we are a peaceful religion. we do not spew hate like you filthy jews and christians. you americans are a vile, evil gaggle of perverts. you have no history and decency. you try to destroy and rape innocent arabs.

اسماعيل فاس يعني "نحب امريكا". فنحن العرب والمسلمين
الامريكيين أحبك. نحن دين سلمي. ولا بث الحقد مثلك قذره اليهود والمسيحيين. اليكم الاميركيين الشريره والشر قطيع من الشواذ. ليس أمامكم التاريخ والأخلاق. انك تحاول تدمير واغتصاب الأبرياء العرب.

But the Google translator said that this is the actual translation (but it is only a dumb computer, so Google could be wrong:

Ismail Fez mean "hate America." We Arabs and Muslims Americans love you. We are a peaceful religion. The spreading hatred like you dirty Jews and the Christians. You Americans are evil and evil herd of homosexuals. You have no history and ethics. You are trying to destroy and rape of innocent Arabs.

NOTE ALSO: I will edit this post if most here think it's inappropriate to repost this here.

[question everything]

28. Sources: Virginia Tech gunman left note

Source: Chicago Tribune


By Aamer Madhani
Tribune national correspondent

April 17, 2007, 1:52 PM CDT

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The suspected gunman in the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, Cho Seung-Hui, was a troubled 23-year-old senior from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room, sources say. The note included a rambling list of grievances, according to sources. They said Cho also died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on one of his arms.

Cho had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behavior, according to an investigative source, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women. A note believed to have been written by Cho was found in his dorm room that railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. Cho was an English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service, the Associated Press reported.

More..


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070417vtech-shootings,1,176236.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

[Waya]

29. Ismail Ax.....hmmm.....

....it's something from the Koran, I think...but can't remember what exactly....

[Disturbed]

30. Will this turn into a Terrorist Act?

Ax refers to the Muslim belief that he (Ismail/Abraham) was to kill Ishmael instead of Isaac (as in the Old Testamant) using an axe as opposed to a knife.

So it appears we have a widely understood Muslim reference to an Old Testament figure (Abraham) who was told to kill either his legitimate (per the Old Testament - Judaeo Christian) or his illegitimate (per Muslim belief) son by God's (or Allah's) command. The Old Testament reports this command was not carried out as God presented an alternative animal sacrifice to Abraham.

But the Old Testament says a knife was to be used while Muslims say an axe was the tool to be used. There is a difference in meaning. The word "axe" denotes the intention to decapitate, to cut off, the head. A knife denoted to stab the heart.

Thus, this phrase is undeniably related to Islam.

It can mean that Islam must kill the illigitimate "son", the unbeliever's, such as Americans.

http://www.dailymusings.spaces.live.com/

[Waya]

31. Actually...as horrible as this sounds.....

.....I was saying yesterday, after I heard what was happening at VT, that I hoped it wasn't a Muslim or a person of Arab descent. Horrible, really, to think such a thing - but knowing what this Administration would make out of it .....

[rainbow4321]

32. Googling the phrase..

brings up this:

http://bangkokker.blogspot.com/

For those of you still searching for meaning in this phrase, written in ink on Cho Seung-Hui's arm and also how he signed his infamous note, it starts with the story of Ibrahim's Ax (Ibrahim = Abraham):

After making sure that nobody was left in town, Ibrahim went towards the temple armed with an ax. Statues of all shapes and sizes were sitting there adorned with decorations. Plates of food were offered to them, but the food was untouched. "Well, why don't you eat? The food is getting cold." He said to the statues, joking; then with his ax he destroyed all the statues except one, the biggest of them. He hung the ax around its neck and left.
--The Koran


https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=22333832&postID=479180307743019560


I wondered if as an English major he had read E.D.E.N. Southworth's novel "Ishmael." It's pretty well known in literary circles. In it, Ishmael is a young man who grows up in poverty, but falls in love with a wealthy young woman. His love is unrequited. Just after Claudia leaves Ishmael he becomes very ill, but he picks up an ax and begins to feverishly chop wood. The effort makes him more gravely ill. He later speaks of this as a "turning point" in his life. The chapter starts with part of a poem by Browning:

"With such wrong and woe exhausted, what I suffered and occasioned—
As a wild horse through a city, runs, with lightning in his eyes,
And then dashing at a church's cold and passive wall impassioned,
Strikes the death into his burning brain, and blindly drops and dies—
So I fell struck down before her! Do you blame me, friends, for weakness?
'Twas my strength of passion slew me! fell before her like a stone;
Fast the dreadful world rolled from me, on its roaring wheels of blackness!
When the light came, I was lying in this chamber—and alone."

[daleo]

36. Very good post

You are probably on to something, considering the man's background as an English major.

[Up2Late]

37. Yes. I found that one too, plus The Smoking Gun has posted a one Act play he wrote.

NOTE: It's not at all good: <http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html>

[kestrel91316]

33. How long before the RW freaks try to blame this on Islam because of

the Ismail Ax thing?

[svpadgham]

34. I wouldn't put it past them.

Although, it seems just as likely that they'll pin it on Moby Dick and Paul Bunyan.

[svpadgham]

35. It also occurs to me that the name

"Cho Seung-Hui" is Korean which of course means he's an Islamic North Korean. That's probably the story they'll go with. Sorry, I don't mean to make light of this but all the bullshit going on in the world is desensitizing me. Fortunately I can still realize it. I shudder to think that one day I'll be like "Eh...whatever."

[clar8130]

41. Who says he's a Muslim?

Do you have a link? I've been unable to determine whether he's Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, Nothing, etc.

[Karenina]

43. I CANNOT BELIEVE you are that STUPID.

FACTS: He was a permanent resident of the U.S. in country since he was 7 years old. He was CERTIFIED mentally disordered.