Something bothers me about this

[Archer1945]

The shooter has two pistols which were supposedly bought at a local gun shop. Now I know when he bought those guns they both had serial numbers on them. The two guns he had with him had the serial numbers filed off. Why would someone go to the trouble of filing serial numbers off the guns if they'd been planning to not be alive after their use? I hope the police have enough sense to get these guns to the FBI lab to see if they really are the guns he purchased. If they turn out not to be, what has happened to those guns?

If it wasn't for the fact a number of people have wondered about him in the past I'd be almost willing to bet we have a Manchurian Candidate on our hands. For those that don't know what that means, do some checking. There is some fairly reliable evidence Sirhan Sirhan might have been one when Robert Kennedy was killed.

 

[tmajors]

Why would someone go to the trouble of filing serial numbers off the guns if they'd been planning to not be alive after their use?

My wife had a goofy odd ball theory that he filed the serial numbers off so they couldn't be traced to the gun store he bought them at and getting them in trouble. As horrible as his deeds were my wife thinks that somehow he wanted the blame only on him and placed on others.

Like I said, goofy theory but so far only thing I've heard that fits.

 

[Biker]

Why then, Tmajors, did he keep the reciept for the Glock on his person while making sure he carried no ID or cell phone?

Biker

 

[SoCalShooter]

My wife had a goofy odd ball theory that he filed the serial numbers off so they couldn't be traced to the gun store he bought them at and getting them in trouble. As horrible as his deeds were my wife thinks that somehow he wanted the blame only on him and placed on others.

Like I said, goofy theory but so far only thing I've heard that fits.

Thats not to bad of a theory, but it also goes he was just screwed up.

 

[bogie]

CNN was just making a big deal about how he bought one of 'em mail order/internet, but they DID actually also go into the "you have to have it shipped to a licensed dealer" bit too...

Keep hammering common sense at 'em. Maybe some of it will stick.

 

[LaEscopeta]

By his actions, the VT murder is by definition criminally insane, what used to be called a homicidal manic. I don’t think we should expect all his actions to make sense.

Also, in this case (like most other similar ones) many of the “facts” that are reported in the news media and the internet (including on this forum) turn out to be false.

 

[Hawk]

...if they'd been planning to not be alive after their use?

Occam's Razor might suggest that "deceased" may not have been part of the plan.

Dump the guns and escape (with receipt in backpack) isn't that farfetched. Too bad we'll never know.

 

[Pixel]

Why then, Tmajors, did he keep the reciept for the Glock on his person while making sure he carried no ID or cell phone?

Not Tmajors, but my guess (having done this myself on a couple occasions) is that he had the backpack with him when he bought the gun and tucked the receipt in the small front pocket and forgot about it.

 

[Biker]

If he planned to escape, I doubt that he'd chain the doors.

Biker

 

[kellyj00]

this is the first I've heard that the serial numbers were filed off, but if it's true then there's one valid explanation....

He thought he was a badass. He wanted to go down in a blaze of glory like they do in the movies, hence strapping so many magazines to himself in plain sight. He didn't carry an ID for the same reason he filed off his serial numbers, because he wanted people to think he was a professional or an assassin or something more than a loser college student with enough money to buy a gun at his local gun shop and file off the serial number....

 

[gm]

Indeed, a very curious thing to remove the seriel numbers while having the sales receipt in a place where it could be found with the name on it?


kinda begs the question if the ones he purchased are the same ones used in the event. Im curious about what photo ID was used to originally purchase the weapons.



This has me curious as well.If he so planned it out ahead of time, why the receipt on an otherwise unidentifiable shooter?

 

[Cliff47]

As I understand the acquisition of the handguns, the Glock was purchased at a gun store. The Walther may have been acquired at a gun show the prior weekend in a private purchase (without the required federal/state paperwork). I will await further word from the informed sources on the Walther.

The filing of the serial numbers, if memory serves, is a Federal offense in and of itself. At least we do not have to put up with a long legal proceeding, as he took himself out of the equation.

 

[Geronimo45]

This serial-numbers business... he got the guns a long while ago. He may've been planning some other kind of shooting spree, and just decided on this place recently. Receipt in the backpack? No idea. Apparently, he stopped going to class sometime around the time he got the gun (from what I've read... not sure, though). So he might've left it there and forgot about it.

 

[tinygnat219]

Video at Roanoke Guns confirmed it was the Korean who had purchased the Glock 19

 

[BobTheTomato]

Maybe he did plan to escape after the first attack in the Dorm and he intended to dump the gun. They are saying now it looks like the RA tried to intervine in the disturbance and got shot also (probally not what he had planned). Maybe his whole plan was to just go after one girl but he had a backup plan when something went wrong.

 

[whited]

.

The Manchurian Candidate angle had crossed my mind also.

Or something else.

But then I remove my tinfoil hat and find it very difficult to believe
anything other than what our police masters and media gospels tell us.

There is something amiss.

 

[hrgrisso]

Walther

Dateline last night said he'd bought the Walther at a local Pawn Shop. No interview with the Pawn shop but they did video the front of the store. So we know that he bought both his own guns legally.

 

[30 cal slob]

i wonder if there is going to be a money trail ... leading to Cho's parents or some person/group/cause he cared about.

if the parents got a wire transfer from someone like George Soros before the shootings, well...things is gonna get ugly.

 

[98C5]

I know the guys from Roanoke Firearms. They are great people with a top-notch business. They sold the gun by the book and under full compliance with the law. He had 3 sets of matching ID's which included a valid Va drivers license. Background check came through fine. It's ashame that these great people may be marred from the horrible tragedy. We all know it's not their fault, yet the media seems to want to slight them.

Why did he file off the serial numbers? Not sure, made no sense. They did find a Dremel tool in his dorm. Most likely what was used. I'm guessing no real reason, just to do it.

Bottom line: This kid had several issues; depression, medication, no close friends, etc. It seems like all of these problems reached a pinnacle in which he lost it. NOTHING could have stopped it. If he didn't use a gun, he could of made homemade bombs or the like.

 

[RIDE]

Copy/paste from another post of mine...

To me, it looks like the shooter bought the gun(s) from a legit shop and wanted to "play gangster" so he removed the SN's.... My guess is that the receipt for the guns was found in his backpack because he wanted to save the receipt, but didn't want anyone to find out he had a gun... In college, and in a crowded dorm, where there is little to no privacy, a backpack that is always with you is probably the only place the shooter could think of to keep his little secret.

 

[RNB65]

The two guns he had with him had the serial numbers filed off.

The filing of SN's is another rumor going around THR (similar to the rumor about students being lined up against a wall). I've not seen or heard any reliable source saying the the SN's were altered. I did notice in the search warrant that they removed a Dremel tool from his dorm room, so he may have tried to remove the SN's. But, again, I've not aware of any reliable source for this info.

 

[Zundfolge]

Lets see ... crazy guy murders a whole bunch of people that he didn't know and didn't have any real beef with yet you are looking for some sort of sane, rational, logical reason why he'd file the SNs off his guns?

 

[junyo]

As horrible as his deeds were my wife thinks that somehow he wanted the blame only on him and placed on others.

I'd imagine that with as high a value as Asian culture typically puts on family honor, he wasn't thinking of anyone but himself, because regardless of the gunshop, he's really dropped his family in the pot. Last report a) said they were in hiding, and b) gave the address of the family home and his sister's job. He destroys his family's reputation/honor, but wants to spare the strangers at the gunshop?

 

[robsc]

Archer1945 ------ Sirhan Sirhan was eight (8) feet IN FRONT of Robert Kennedy. The shot that killed Robert Kennedy entered his head behind his right ear. Powder burns and residue on his skin prove that a gun`s muzzle was only 2 inches from the entrance hole into his head. Sirhan Sirhan was 8 feet IN FRONT of RFK. Sirhan Sirhan did not kill Robert Kennedy.

 

[karz10]

The filing of SN's is another rumor going around THR (similar to the rumor about students being lined up against a wall). I've not seen or heard any reliable source saying the the SN's were altered.

I've seen this reported on CNN, all major national and local network news, fairly consistently. I think it is as much fact as we are going to get at this point.


As to why? I think at the time he did it, he probably had a plan. My first thought was he may have intended to sell the guns as a straw purchaser, but as more facts came out, it seemed he was planning something violent, so maybe at one time his plan included him escaping the situation and falling into the sea of students, ditching the gun, hoping it would be untraceable.

But then either he intentionally changed his plan, or circumstances left him feeling he had no choice to change his plan. In other words, maybe he had some plan to confront one person, or had a shooting spree in the back of his mind the whole time, but then finding himself in the confrontation w/ that first victim, and the RA, decided he wanted to end their lives, and thinking there would be witnesses to this event, and he might not have another chance if caught by authorities, decided that it was then or never, and went back to get more ammo etc., mail his package, and do as much damage as he could before he was taken down, or in this case took himself down.

In between the two shooting incedents, in the rush to do what he was doing, he may have forgotten about the receipt being in there at that point, if his original plan was not to take place that day.

Purely speculation, of course, but someone posed the question...

Karz