In the absence of any official information from police on the identity of the Virginia Tech killer, internet sleuths claiming to be in-the-know have been calling attention -- on message boards and online aggregators like Digg -- to the LiveJournal blog of a particular 23-year-old gun nut in Virginia.
It's easy to see why this rumor would get traction. The man's journal features copious photos of him holding firearms, big and small, as well as dark hints of obsessive love, and confirmation that he attends Virginia Tech. So far, over 150 people have heaped wrath on his blog's comment board, or gotten in messages like, "Just posting a comment in a potentially famous livejournal."
(I'm not naming him. To the credit of the mainstream media, his name produces not a single hit in Google News, and Wired News will certainly not be the first.)
I found his phone number in an online resume and called it. A guy who identified himself as "David," and wouldn't give a last name, said he was handling media inquiries for the man. "He has given me liberty to confirm that he is not the shooter, given that he is alive," said David.
He added that the man is receiving non-stop press inquiries, but is holding out for the first media agency willing to make a donation to charity. "Right now the entire internet thinks it is him. He is really concerned with his safety."
Nobody deserves to be wrongly tied to a crime of this nature. But it's unclear why this person would be concerned with his safety; we know the actual killer is dead. Maybe he thinks the internet will believe -- mistakenly, no doubt -- that he's passively encouraging the rumor and enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. That might piss people off.
So why hasn't he put the matter to rest by updating his blog with a simple message like, "It's not me."? "David" wouldn't comment on that.
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Update: The LiveJournal gun-fan has now posted that message, and explained why he let the rumor live for so long.
He posted a traffic chart showing 117,000 pageviews Monday.
