According to the father of Daniel Kim, William Kim, his son was never sent to a psychologist after showing the warning signs of a possible attempt at suicide. This is almost a few days until the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre in which Cho Seung-Hui killed a total of 32 students and professors before turning the gun on himself.
In the case of Daniel Kim, he felt depressed afterwards. He had the fear that classmates might mistake him for Cho Seung-Hui. Last year, there were the fears emerging on possible backlash against the Asian community. The South Korean government had even issued an apology for what Cho had done. Many South Korean students were called back home out of fear of possible ramifications.
These are some of the possible fears that had caused 21-year-old Daniel Kim to fall into a state of depression. Eight months after the massacre, Daniel Kim had taken his own life. His father and friends noticed the warning signs. Apparently, school officials have not.
“They treated it like some kind of joke,” said William Kim. He had openly criticized the way Virginia Tech handled it.
But, Virginia Tech stood firm by its actions. According to Zenobia Hikes, the vice president of student affairs for the school, the appropriate measures ware taken in the case of Daniel Kim. Hikes added that two-thirds of students live off campus and that it is protocol for the police to do a wellness check on students that do not live on campus. That was the case with Daniel Kim.
Shaun Pribush, a friend of Daniel Kim explained that he e-mailed the health center about the signs of suicide. In the e-mail, Pribush explained that Kim was acting very suicidal and had bought a handgun. Pribush emphasized that this was serious.
Pribush sent the e-mail on November 5, 2007 almost at four o’clock in the morning. Kim and Pribush became friends online through the popular MMORPG known as “World of Warcraft.”
Kim used his father’s credit card to purchase a handgun. His father had no idea about the gun purchase during that time.
On a side note, this could possibly bring gun rights on the table come the general election debates between GOP nominee John McCain and the eventual Democratic nominee which is either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.