?Obviously, he was acting strangely, appeared to be in a depressive state, and didn?t talk to people for long periods of time,? he said.
Judging from publicly available information, Dr. Pollack said that Cho appeared to be like many others who engage in targeted violence -- violence involving at least some planning. In Cho?s case the violence seems to have grown out of depression and rage engendered by some aspect of his life at school.
?The hate turns to a depressive sense of lassitude and a feeling that there?s no other way, and they move onto a path of violence. This fellow moved onto a path of violence a long time before the event occurred,? he said.
Cho's Virginia Tech classmates remembered a silent young man who rarely if ever spoke in class, even when directly called on, a classic hallmark of selective mutism. In fact, Cho's lack of communication with his parents and other family members was a cause for great concerns in his childhood, the investigative panel found.
