Gang Lu (born in Beijing) (1963 - November 1, 1991 ) (surname Lu; Chinese: 卢刚 Lú Gāng) was a Chinese physics student enrolled in the PhD program at the University of Iowa. On Friday, November 1, 1991, using a .38 caliber revolver and also carrying a .22 caliber handgun, he shot five people to death, seriously wounded another, and then committed suicide in what is sometimes called the Gang Lu Massacre.
The people he killed were Christoph K. Goertz (his advisor), Linhua Shan (a fellow PhD student from China), Dwight R. Nicholson (department chair), Robert Alan Smith (associate professor and Lu’s co-advisor), and T. Anne Cleary (Vice President for Academic Affairs). A student employee, Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, was shot in her spine; this permanently paralyzed her arms and legs.
Months before, Gang Lu wrote five letters explaining the reasons for his planned actions. The university has these letters. According to university officials, four of the letters are in English and were intended to be sent to news organizations. One is in Chinese.
The real reasons for the tragedy are still unknown today because Lu’s letters have not been released to the public. According to the university, Lu said in the letters that he was angry and jealous that his doctoral dissertation had not received a prestigious academic award. Linhua Shan had received the award.
Writer Jo Ann Beard later wrote an acclaimed personal essay based in part on the killings. The essay, called “The Fourth State of Matter,” was originally published in The New Yorker, appeared in the 1997 edition of Best American Essays, and was later published in her collection of personal essays, The Boys of My Youth. Beard worked as an editor for a physics journal at the university and was a colleague of the victims, working closely with several of them.
Based on Gang Lu’s story, director Chen Shi-zheng made a feature film, “Dark Matter,” starring Liu Ye and Meryl Streep. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.[2]
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that unfolded as two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on April 16, 2007, on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. A shooter killed 32 people[4] and wounded many more[3] before committing suicide,[5] making it the deadliest incident of its kind in modern U.S. history.[6]
The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, was a South Korean who had moved to the U.S. at eight years of age. At the time of the shootings, he was a senior majoring in English at Virginia Tech.[5] He had a history of incidents at the school, including allegations of stalking,[7] referrals to counseling,[8] and a 2005 declaration of mental illness by a Virginia special justice.[9]
致卢刚的家人：
我们经历了突发的巨痛，我们在姐姐一生中最光辉的时候失去了她。我们深以姐姐为荣，她有很大的影响力，受到每一个接触她的人的尊敬和热爱—她的家庭、邻居，她遍及各国学术界的同事、学生和亲属。我们一家从很远的地方来到这里，不但和姐姐的许多朋友一同承担悲痛，也一起分享姐姐在世时所留下的美好回忆。
当我们在悲伤和回忆中相聚一起的时候，也想到了你们一家人，并为你们祈祷。因为这个周末你们肯定是十分悲痛和震惊的。
安最相信爱和宽恕。我们在你们悲痛时写这封信，为的是要分担你们的悲伤，也盼你们和我们一起祈祷彼此相爱。在这痛苦的时候，安是会希望我们大家的心都充满同情、宽容和爱的。我们知道，在此时比我们更感悲痛的，只有你们一家。请你们理解，我们愿和你们共同承受这悲伤。这样，我们就能一起从中得到安慰和支持。安也会这样希望的。
诚挚的安·柯莱瑞博士的兄弟们
