monash uni – sixthseal.com

Network II.5

April 16, 2003 by HB

You’ll be the death of me.
Set…everything…right…
Why…no…utilization?
Why???
Simple…exercise…
Why…can’t…complete…
No…not…that…
Not..sleepless…night…

Thoughts about the Monash shooting and a Crown Casino terrorist attack warning (hoax?)

October 24, 2002 by HB

Ceremony of Reflection and Respect for the Monash
shooting victims [monash.edu.au]

Venue: Robert Blackwood Concert Hall (Building 2 on the Clayton campus)

Time: 11am on Friday 25 October, 2002.

Hmm…the gunman is being charged in court and the 5 wounded are well on their way to recovery
so I guess it’s back to life as usual. It’s sad to think that two innocent students died though. I
actually saw the parents and sister (?) of one of the deceased today. They looked very sad, but I
didn’t know what I could say that would make them feel better so I just nodded at them. On the
other side of the coin, the gunman’s story seems unfortunate as well. He has an old mother to
support, and now that he’s in prison, what’s going to happen to her? And why didn’t he think of
that before he started shooting? The mind boggles. I heard stories that he’s under a lot of
pressure to do well in his presentation, and it’s quite a challenge considering he doesn’t know
English that well. I guess that can be pretty stressful, but hell, if every student started
shooting every time they’re stressed, I guess there won’t be any Monash students left, would there?
What he did was wrong, and yet, inexplicably sad.

You have received a message!
Pls forward:
For your safety dun go to crown these days
terrorist attack: a friend’s friend had found a wallet somewhere and he rang the owner and gave it
back to him, the owner of the wallet is from pakistan, then he thanked my friend’s friend and then
told them not to go to crown or any places which are these days as there will be something terrible
going to happen”

“Ths was written by a HK friend from eng. Just on the safe side dun go”

This is an ICQ message that’s been circling around lately. I got two of these from two totally
unrelated people (except they’re both Monash University students) within a 15 minute period. I
suspect it’s a hoax, but one can never be too careful these days. Just FYI.

Link: 7 deadly
weapons [heraldsun.news.com.au] (He even had a 9mm
Luger)

Link: Professor sings praises of
murdered uni duo [theage.com.au]

Link: Kung-fu instincts kick in as
shots fly [theage.com.au]

Link: Modest
hero’s instinct takes over [heraldsun.news.com.au]

…and the knee-jerk response:

Link: Howard to push for limited
ban on handguns [theage.com.au]

Link: National
push to restrict pistols [heraldsun.news.com.au]

It’s interesting to see that the gunman is said to be a member of the Melbourne Indoor Pistol Club [mipc.com.au]. I went there
earlier this year (read about it here [sixthseal.com] – 1/4
down the page) and it’s a pretty fun place where you can shoot with real handguns and live ammo.
They’re also an authorized Heckler and Kosh [hecklerkoch-usa.com] dealer. Check
it out if you’re interested.

More on the Monash University shooting

October 23, 2002 by HB

Well, it seems that newspaper sales go through the roof every time something
happens because I could not get a copy of The Age or the Herald Sun after 1 pm. The newsagents
seems to have sold out of those papers by midday. Anyway, here are a couple of links regarding the
incident:

Link: Police name
Monash shooting victims [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Shootings
suspect appears in court [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash gun
rampage [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Gunman was
a classmate [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Distressed
students face exams [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: ‘A quiet,
normal guy’ [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students
ashen over new horror [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Heroes
prevent uni massacre [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Classes
resume at uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Your
views on the Monash Uni shooting (2) [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Your
views on the Monash Uni shooting (1) [heraldsun.news.com.au] (My view about 3/4 down the page)

Link: Kung fu fighter a modest
campus hero [theage.com.au]

Link: A sombre uni gets on with
life [theage.com.au]

Link: Reluctant hero returns to
work [theage.com.au]

Breaking news: Monash University Clayton Campus, Melbourne shooting

October 21, 2002 by HB

(Updated throughout the day)

Official Monash University statement
[monash.edu.au]

Monash shooting helpline: 03-9545 6961 or 03-9545 6579

Toll: 2 dead, 5 hospitalized (1 in critical condition).

Facts:

Image (c) Mario Borg/The Age

Gunman is Huan Yun Xiang, a fourth-year commerce honors student who has trouble with
English.
He was supposed to give his final presentation in econometrics today.
He brought a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun instead.
He has been arrested and is in St Kilda police station.
Read this [theage.com.au]
to understand his possible motives. It’s sad, really. But what he did was wrong.

This will be updated throughout the day. Please refresh for latest news.

Link: Man held over uni
killings [theage.com.au]

Link: Pressure builds in the Ming
Wing [theage.com.au]

Link: Talented loner who struggled
in class [theage.com.au]

Link: ‘They were screaming, there’s
a gunman on the loose’ [theage.com.au]

Link: Where it happened
[theage.com.au]

Update: Shooter Identity (Source: Halls Direct Connect server chat room) –
~~Unverified~~ Verified

<Carve2> Okay, official info to follow, I have a friend who was in that class
<Carve2> On the shooting
<Carve2> Honours Econometrics class, student in class had a total of 6 handguns and opened
fire on his classmates
<killuminati> so it wasn’t an outsider?
<Carve2> Apparently stressed out over a presentation he had that day
<Carve2> no, it was a student
<killuminati> icic
<killuminati> thats a bit harsh…shooting up the class over a presentation
<Carve2> The other students basically overwhelmed him and held him till police arrived
<The_Great_S@t@n> is your friend doing OK?
<Carve2> Yeah, he’s fine, just a bit shook up, as you would be!
<The_Great_S@t@n> yeah….. one of my mates doing honours with the guys in the class, he
went and visited some of the injured people, says one guy got shot through both knees, he’ll be OK
eventually he says, and a girl who got shot through the cheek, he didn’t get too see her
though.
<The_Great_S@t@n> Did anyone go to the information session @ 6pm?
<Carve2> No, was tutoring
<The_Great_S@t@n> the policeman said there were 4 guns, and one of the deceased was an
international student, otherwise just calmed everyone down, said Monash was probably the best
Victorian Uni when it comes to security.

Link: Herald
Sun: Your views on the Monash Uni shooting [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Calls for
handgun ban [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Howard
‘not’ to blame: NUS [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash
rampage visits more terror on Australians [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students
no longer invulnerable after Monash shooting [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Fed govt
policies to blame for shootings: NUS [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Update: There will be a counselor available all day in the MRS Theatre for all Halls of
Residence residents who needs it.

Update: The cell phone lines are clogged for a couple of hours following the shooting due to
everyone calling at once, but it’s okay now.

There was an announcement over the halls PA system this morning, requesting that we do not go to
the university because there has been an incident. It seems that there has been a shooting at the
campus and the gunman is still at large. Well, being a curious sort, I headed down myself to see.
Everyone at the university is rather hard pressed for information, but from several reports I’ve
heard, it seems that there has been a shooting at the Robert Menzies building. 5 people
were shot ~~(Update: 8 people were shot)~~ (Update: 7
people were shot) Update: 10 people were shot – 2 people are confirmed dead, 5
people are in the hospital and 3 more are injured. The unidentified gunman apparently walked
into either a tutorial ~~or a lecture (conflicting reports)~~ and opened fire. There
was a guy beside me who was actually in the tute, but he didn’t see the gunman coz he was facing
the other way. Next thing he knew, everyone was running out and there was this girl with blood all
over her saying “Help me”. Hmm…there seems to be a lot of school shootings, but not that many uni
shootings. It’s a media circus at the Clayton campus right now. I counted 5 news helicopters and 2
fixed wing planes circling the campus. I still don’t know what happened to the gunman at this point
(Update: Gunman was overpowered by other students and has been arrested. He’s being held at the
Glen Waverley police station), but the campus is crawling with police and the Menzies building
has been cordoned off. The police have been talking to everyone around the area. I didn’t stay for
long coz I only got 3 hours of sleep last night but the media is camped out in front of the Law
faculty, awaiting a police statement. Check The Age [theage.com.au] and Herald Sun [heraldsun.news.com.au] for breaking
news. (Update: Seems to be gang related, the victims and the gunman are all
Asian) {Update: The shooting seems indiscriminate)

Students around the crime scene and a couple of early news people.

The media interviewing some students.

More news people behind the police tape. I was standing on the Law Faculty walkway when I took
this.

The media talking to a police spokesman.

The forensics department being escorted past the cordon.

A guy in the Menzies building. The news people started snapping pics of him when he poked his
head out, so I did too. Heh. Note: This is not a hostage situation, it’s a shooting. Another rumor
going around is that it’s a terrorist related bombing or shooting. It’s not.

A detective walking towards the crime scene.

The air ambulance that evacuated one of the guys who was shot in the stomach.

Crime scene investigators heading into the building.

Oh, and do you know why all those people at these type of incidents all look so grim-assed?
Accounting for different personality types, it’s pretty obvious that not everyone is going to be
looking sad or scared. The reason?

News photographer: “Okay, I’m going to take a photo of you people now. Please don’t smile and
look serious.”

There you go.

Update:

Link: Students
tackled uni gunman [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash
helpline numbers revised [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Photo gallery: Monash Shooting
[theage.com.au]

Link: Shocked:
Premier Steve Bracks [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Some
thought security announcements were a joke [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Police rule
out terror as cause of Monash attack [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Leaders
mourn more young lives lost [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Counselling
services set up at Monash Uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Uni
shootings suspect showed no emotion: witness [heraldsun.news.com.au]