By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
William Kim, the father of a Virginia Tech student who committed suicide seven months after the massacre that left 32 students dead last April feels the school was negligent over the death of his son.
``They treated it like some kind of joke,'' he said of the way the university handled his son's warning signs, according to a CNN report.
Daniel Kim, a Korean-American student who apparently feared that classmates might mistake him for Cho Seung-hui, the perpetrator in the mass shooting, killed himself after falling into a deep depression.
According to his friends, Kim exhibited suicidal tendencies, including talking about buying a gun and threatening to take an overdose.
This triggered Shaun Pribush, who had become an online friend of Kim's, to e-mail the Virginia Tech health center with the subject line: ``Emergency About Suicidal Student.''
The e-mail, sent according to CNN at 3:58 a.m. November 5, 2007, read thus:
``Dear health center,
This is a serious email, this is not a joke. I am Shaun Pribush, a student at RPI, but I am e-mailing because me and some other individuals are very worried about our friend at Virginia Tech, Daniel Kim.
Daniel has been acting very suicidal recently, purchasing a $200 pistol, and claiming he'll go through with it. In one incident, he said on a Friday, he would do it after the weekend, but then told us he failed to go through with it.
On about November 2nd, Daniel told me and a friend over `Instant Messenger' that he just swallowed 22 pills and said this is the end and signed off, but on the morning of November 5th, he logged on saying ``third time will be a charm i made myself puke up the pills when i was on the road and then ... couldnt shoot myself so then i was thinking about getting into a car accident then i got all depressed over that sh-t and slept in my car. ...''
We are very concerned for his safety and are unsure the next time he might attempt suicide or go through with it, please forward this to who can give him the best care. Once again, this is very serious; this is not a joke.
Please update me if you acknowledge this and take action so I know if I reached the right e-mail adress. Thank you.''
University protocol dictates that a person deemed to be a suicide risk should be seen by a ``psychologist on call,'' however, in Kim's case this procedure was not followed. Virginia Tech contacted Blacksburg police, who visited Kim at 11:45 a.m. that day. Police records show that Kim was rated as ``C4'' ― the code for not at risk ― following a ``welfare check'' interview.
``All they did was just knock on the door, and they got Dan, and that was pretty much it. Thirty seconds later, the door was closed,'' said Kim's roommate Chris Crumpler, according to the CNN report.
Vice President for student affairs, Zenobia Hikes, said Virginia Tech handled the case in the right way, despite university protocol not being followed.
``The appropriate measures were taken in his case,'' she said.
More than a month after the police check, Kim's sister Jeannette received a call from home saying something was wrong.
She found out that her brother had shot himself in the family car some seven miles from the university campus.
Kim's father was asked whether he felt the university had let him down. ``I feel like it, yes,'' he answered. ``Especially after the April shooting.''
William Kim still drives the car his son shot himself in.
He told CNN that his son had not suffered depression at any time before the Virginia Tech incident.
What was especially hurtful to him was that the university had not shared the e-mail with the family.
Kim's sister was distraught. ``To me, my brother was everything,'' she said.