Perpetrator and Motives
The perpetrator of the shooting was 28-year-old Gang Lu (family name Lu; Chinese: 卢刚 Lú Gāng), a former graduate student at the University of Iowa. Lu was a physics and astronomy student who had received his doctoral degree from the university in May 1991. (His dissertation was titled Study of the "Critical Ionization Velocity" Effect by Particle-in-Cell Simulation.) He was still living in Iowa City after graduating.
As a graduate student Gang Lu was primarily a loner who was perceived by at least one other graduate student to have a psychological problem if challenged and was reported to have had abusive tantrums. In the months prior to the shooting, Lu wrote five letters explaining the reasons for his planned actions. According to university officials, four of the letters were in English and were intended to be mailed to news organizations. One letter was written in Chinese. The letters have never been released to the public.
Lu was infuriated because his dissertation did not receive the prestigious D.C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Prize. This prize included a monetary award of $2,500. Gang Lu believed that winning the prize would have made it easier for him to get hired as a professor.
Lu was unable to find work because of the recession. Normally, in this instance, the physics and astronomy department would have given Lu a temporary postdoctoral fellowship. Unfortunately, there was not enough money to support him.
Read more about this topic: University Of Iowa Shootings
Famous quotes containing the words perpetrator and/or motives:
“But ice-crunching and loud gum-chewing, together with drumming on tables, and whistling the same tune seventy times in succession, because they indicate an indifference on the part of the perpetrator to the rest of the world in general, are not only registered on the delicate surfaces of the brain but eat little holes in it until it finally collapses or blows up.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own.”
—J.M. (James Matthew)