Reactions

Virginia Tech massacre act of "deranged individual"

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-04-18 09:57

LOS ANGELES -- U.S. community leaders in Los Angeles on Tuesday urged Angelenos to view the Virginia Tech massacre as an isolated crime committed by "one deranged individual."

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who heads the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, and other community leaders delivered a letter of support to the Korean Consulate in an effort to reach out to Korean-American leaders in Los Angeles, which has the largest Korean population outside Seoul.

Hutchinson said it was important "to urge others to see this as the act of one deranged individual and to not use it for scapegoating."

Because the massacre was so "monstrous," he said, it was bound to have severe repercussions, and he didn't want to see a knee-jerk reaction against Korean Americans."

He praised Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's "forthright and immediate response" to the massacre, saying one thing that really motivated was the forthright and immediate response of President Roh when issuing his condolences and support.

"I felt it was important to back that up," Hutchinson said.

He said he wanted to reach out to Korean Americans in Los Angeles because of historical tensions between blacks and Koreans, such as the rancor over the 1991 shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins by Soon Ja Du, a Korean-American grocer who suspected the girl of shoplifting.

The gunman in yesterday's massacre at Virginia Tech was identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, who came to the United States from South Korea as a boy.

Officials from the Los Angeles-based National Korean American Service & Education Consortium -- a Korean-American civil rights group -- issued a statement decrying the Virginia Tech shooting.

"Our hearts go out to the victims, their family members and friends," the group said. "This unspeakable tragedy hurts all of us. As a community, Korean Americans will come together to provide the support and resources needed for the students, their families and the faculty at Virginia Tech to overcome the grief and pain that overwhelms them all at this moment."

"The Korean-American community will join the efforts of others in tackling the root causes of these senseless school shootings that continue to endanger our children and young adults," the statement read.