Va. Tech student beheaded
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Foreign student brutally murdered at Virginia Tech
A female graduate student from China at Virginia Tech was killed around 7 p.m., Jan. 21 when a male Chinese graduate student she knew decapitated her with a knife in a campus cafeteria, according to campus police. It was the first campus homicide since 2007 when a student gunman shot 32 people and then killed himself. SFU criminologist Neil Boyd says the perpetrator is likely deeply disturbed with a mental illness such as a psychotic disorder. Erika Horwitz, SFU associate director of counseling services, has just returned from a conference in China on the mental health of the country’s students when they study abroad. She can comment on the tremendous pressures international students face in North America, which can sometimes result in mental illness. SFU forensic psychologist Stephen Hart can also comment on the likely mental state of the killer.
Neil Boyd, 604.947.9569; neil_boyd@sfu.ca
Erika Horwitz, 778.782.3197; 778.227.7742 (cell); ehorwitz@sfu.ca
Stephen Hart (available by email only), hart@sfu.ca