I am so sorry. Kind of OT: But this thingy reminds me of V for Vendetta, what if the Gunman DIDN'T KILL HIMSELF and STILL OUTTHERE... I might sound crazy but they havent provided ANY INFO about the gunman... This name should be KNOWN AND HATED FOR THE REST OUR LIVES. GET HIM GET HIM!...
Witness account from student-run VT newspaper http://www.collegemedia.com Monday, April 16th 2007 5:38M Students respond to shootings Alexandra Hemenway, CT News Reporter After the multiple shootings that took place this morning on Campus, many Virginia Tech students have been left feeling shocked and saddened. "I was in my dorm room this morning when I found out what was going on," said junior Sam Leake, who lives in West Amber Johnston, "This is just a really horrific incident, I always thought Virginia Tech was a safe school." Most students, including those that live in West Ambler Johnston, were unaware that anything had happened until much later in the morning. In fact, many students that woke up around 9 a.m. got ready to go to their 10:10 a.m. classes as usual. Right before most students went to leave they were told that West Ambler Johnston was locked down for the second time that morning. "I left to go to my 10:10 class," said freshman Ashley Loessberg who lives in West Amber Jonston, "It wasn't until I went into the hall that my RA told me that we were in a lockdown situation again." Many students expressed frustration that classes were not cancelled until about two hours after the first shooting took place. "I really thought they should have cancelled classes sooner," Leake said. "If they had, maybe some of these deaths could have been prevented." "I received and read an e-mail about the situation that happened at West A.J. this morning but it didn't say anything about not going to class," said freshman Cheryl Cordingley. " That makes me feel really uncomfortable." After such a horrific incident many Virginia Tech students are expressing their absolute shock and disbelief in regards to this situation. "I just can't believe this happened," Loessberg said, "I mean a lot of people have been calling and e-mailing, but I think it will take time to sink in." Chase Damiano, a freshman student at Virginia Tech, went to his French class in Holden Hall, which is connected to Norris hall, and thought the day was going to proceed as usual. "I woke up and went to my French class in Holden Hall like a normal day," Damiano said. "While I was in class I heard sirens, but with the bomb threats made recently, the sirens didn't cause that much of a concern." However, after a short time Damiano learned that something serious was happening on campus. "More and more police officers started showing up and then two women came to our classroom and said that a shooter was in Norris Hall. We barricaded ourselves in the classroom and watched the news. We just sat there and watched the casualty numbers rise from two to seven to 22, " Damiano said. "When we looked out the window we could see students running with their hands up, and we definitely could hear gunshots." Cordingley watched the events that took place at Norris Hall from her seventh floor window in Slusher Tower. "After I heard what had happened I decided to stay in my room," Cordingley said. "Some of my friends and I went out the stairwell window and we could see what was going on at Norris. There were police and ambulances everywhere over there." Despite the feelings of shock and frustration that many Virginia Tech students have expressed, students are also expressing feelings that the Virginia Tech community will come together and find strength within one another. "I think this definitely has the potential to bring the community together," Cordingley said. "I intend to go to Cassel tomorrow to show my support for all of those people that have been impacted by this shooting." Monday, April 16th 2007 5:27PM Students react to the tragedy T.Rees Shapiro, CT Staff Writer Erin Sheehan was one of four people able to walk out of her 9:05 German class in room 207 Norris Hall. "It's a small class, about 25 people," she said. "And I would say no more than 2 people didn't show up, were absent. And of those of us that were in there today, only four of us walked out of that room, but two of us had been injured during the shooting," Sheehan said. "It seemed so strange," Sheehan said. "Because he peaked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, somebody, before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls, and someone thought they sounded like bullets. That's when we blockaded the door to stop anyone from coming in." "He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit. He wore a tan button up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something." "I saw bullets hit people's body," Sheehan said. "There was blood everywhere. People in the class were passed out, I don't know maybe from shock from the pain. But I was one of only four that made it out of that classroom. The rest were dead or injured." She described. "My professor, Herr Bishop," Sheehan said, "I'm not sure if he's alive." Philip Kai Seward, who started a Facebook group back in August about the William Morva incident described his closeness to the events of today. "I started phoning around to some of my friends," Seward said, "And eventually I got in touch with Erin." "She told me she was one of just a few people to make it alive out of a class room that got attacked." "I picked her up from the Blacksburg Police Department just a while ago, but when she first told me what had happened I thought it was all a bad joke," Seward said. "It was all just a surreal moment," Seward said. "When I realized it wasn't."
Horrid. I was at the church mowing our 5+ acres... didn't even know. Sickening. May God have Mercy on the victims... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (and counting)
The **** is going to hit the fan for someone on the decision to not cancel classes or get some sort of warning out during that two hour gap, if they were truly related. It doesn't surprise me. I think campuses have crap for emergency plans in place. At UH stuff that was known pretty well in advance (say, like hurricane warnings) doesn't get decided til last minute. I remember 911; I'd seen it all over TV that morning, but still drove the hour to class and was there almost all day. No one could get off their ass to decide that it was a pretty monumental event and make a decision, or announcement that covered the whole campus. I remember going into the UC and seeing everyone huddled around one of the little TVs. My fiancee said the same thing was happening at UHCL. Professors getting angry that people didn't want to be there, one threatening to fail students if they left class.... Just very little communication across the board.
Light a candle in a window, on a doorstep, or wherever at 8 pm EST (for up to an hour).. at least, that's something planned by a lot of VT students.
I can't imagine the feelings of the parents of the victims. Death was too good of a finish for the shooter.
The Simpsons rerun tonight at 6:30 featured a scene where Ned Flanders goes on a mass killing spree ala Whitman. Bad timing.
talked to my younger cousin whos a freshman in the dorms. word around campus is that its an asian student who has been disgruntled with his advisor (maybe about graduating on time? or graduating at all? grades?).... heard that when the students heard the gun fire in other rooms they couldnt lock the doors but tried pushing up against it themselves, and the gunman shot through the doors killing the students holding the doors... horrible...
And it should hit the fan. I can't believe they didn't evacuate the campus right after the first shooting. Amazingly stupid.
Yeah, the media will add gasoline to the fire to string up whoever made the call not to alert the entire campus. IMO 20/20 hindsight.
any college student could tell you that at a larger campus, there is nothing besides a full police presence (which may not even be possible) to tell students something is wrong.
When was the last time you were on a college campus? How about the last time you ever managed a college campus? If the decision were made to evacuate, I guarantee you it would have caused more problems than they thought, at the time, that it would have solved. All of this is just Monday morning quarterbacking.
I also read that it might have been because of a fight the guy had with his girlfriend (is this not true anymore?)... I also read *rumors* mainly from other forums that it could have been politically motivated.. or a terrorist act. But this probably doesn't appear to be true.
According to the CNN map, at 7:15 am, 2 people were killed and multiple people were injured. Does that sound like "just" a "domestic dispute"? If true, that during the first attack many people were injured and the gunman was still loose, the university should have made every attempt to notify the students on campus.
The only thing they could have done is send out a mass e-mail. Would that have prevented the second shooting? IMO evacuations, lockdowns, etc. are 20/20 hindsight suggestions. No one could have predicted this.
They have a PA system. Email was the course they chose. And even then, the timing of the email was 2 hours after the initial incident.
