VT Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit

LSK

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Wed Apr-18-07 04:26 PM
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VT Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit

April 18, 2007 � A Virginia court found that Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho was "mentally ill" and potentially dangerous. Then the state let him go.

In 2005, after a district court in Montgomery County, Va., ruled that Cho was either a danger to himself or to others � the necessary criteria for a detention order � he was evaluated by a state doctor and ordered to undergo outpatient care.

snip

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.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3052278&page=1

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NightWatcher

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Wed Apr-18-07 04:28 PM
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1. VT and the VT police dropped the ball about half a dozen times on this guy

Two students complained about being stalked. One teacher had him removed from her class because he was psychotic.

How many times should they have stepped in and stopped this guy or removed him from school?

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Annces

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Wed Apr-18-07 04:29 PM
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2. Wow

So this was not a case of no one taking notice of it or trying to do something about it.

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The empressof all

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Wed Apr-18-07 04:34 PM
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3. Being determined to be mentally ill is not a permanent state.

Edited on Wed Apr-18-07 04:35 PM by The empressof all

When someone is involuntarily hospitalized it is usually because they are an immanent danger to themselves or others. When homicidal or suicidal thoughts are no longer present people are released from the hospital. In most states there are required evaluations after 72 hours to determine if the patient still meets legal criteria for detainment.

The problem is that these dangerous symptoms sometimes return and outpatient treatment is often times not enforceable due to legal, and or staffing constraints.

I'm curious to know when he was last evaluated for danger. I don't know what the law in VA states on how this happens.

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meldroc

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Wed Apr-18-07 04:50 PM
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4. How'd he pass the Brady check?

I was under the impression that if you're involuntarily admitted to a hospital or other facility due to mental illness, that information would go into the databases used when you get a Brady check run on you when you purchase a gun.

The system does still have a few holes in it...

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TX-RAT

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Wed Apr-18-07 04:52 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. He went voluntarily. From another link i saw.

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