[Jjfotqse]

(CNN) -- A lone gunman is dead after police said he killed at least 21 people Monday during twin shootings on the Virginia Tech campus -- the worst school shooting incident in U.S. history.

"Some victims were shot in a classroom," university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said during a news conference in Blacksburg.
Police believe there was only one gunman, Flinchum said.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said university President Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."

The attacks mark the worst school shooting incident in U.S. history. In 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

The Associated Press quoted officials saying more than 20 were wounded. A hospital spokeswoman told AP that 17 Virginia Tech students were being treated for gunshot wounds and other injuries.

Sharon Honaker at the Carilion New River Valley Medical Center told CNN that four patients had been transported there, one in critical condition.

One person was killed and others were wounded at multiple locations inside a dormitory about 7:15 a.m., Flinchum said. Two hours later, another shooting at Norris Hall, the engineering science and mechanics building, resulted in multiple casualties, the university reported.

The first reported shooting occurred at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a four-story co-ed dormitory that houses 895 students. The dormitory, one of the largest residence halls on the 2,600-acre campus, is located near the drill field and stadium.

Amie Steele, editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, said one of her reporters at the dormitory reported "mass chaos."

The reporter said there were "lots of students running around, going crazy, and the police officers were trying to settle everyone down and keep everything under control," according to Steele.

Kristyn Heiser said she was in class about 9:30 a.m. when she and her classmates saw about six gun-wielding police officers run by a window.

"We were like, 'What's going on?' Because this definitely is a quaint town where stuff doesn't really happen. It's pretty boring here," said Heiser during a phone interview as she sat on her classroom floor.

Student Matt Waldron said he did not hear the gunshots because he was listening to music, but he heard police sirens and saw officers hiding behind trees with their guns drawn.
Student reports 'mayhem'

"They told us to get out of there so we ran across the drill field as quick as we could," he said.

Waldron described the scene on campus as "mayhem."

"It was kind of scary," he said. "These two kids I guess had panicked and jumped out of the top story window and the one kid broke his ankle and the other girl was not in good shape just lying on the ground."

Madison Van Duyne said she and her classmates in a media writing class were on "lockdown" in their classrooms. They were huddled in the middle of the classroom, writing stories about the shootings and posting them online.

The university is updating its 26,000 students through e-mails, and an Internet webcam is broadcasting live pictures of the campus.

The shootings came three days after a bomb threat Friday forced the cancellation of classes in three buildings, WDBJ in Roanoke reported. Also, the 100,000-square-foot Torgersen Hall was evacuated April 2 after police received a written bomb threat, The Roanoke Times reported.

Last August, the first day of classes was cut short by a manhunt after an escaped prisoner was accused of killing a security guard at a Blacksburg hospital and a sheriff's deputy.

After the Monday shootings, students were instructed to stay indoors and away from windows, police at the university said.

"A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows," read a warning from the university.

"Virginia Tech has canceled all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where they are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus," a statement on the university Web site said.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Link here.

[viagracheapest]

Please pray for the students. A lifelong friend of mine goes to school there and lives down there and she was lucky she wasn't killed. This is a tragic day for America and colleges across the country.

[Lenkapuppia]

Please pray for the students. A lifelong friend of mine goes to school there and lives down there and she was lucky she wasn't killed. This is a tragic day for America and colleges across the country.

We need to seriously re-think the availability of guns in this country, this happens too often and too many innocent die because of the gun lobby's refusal to accept the fact that guns are dangerous weapons and need to be regulated.

My prayers are with the families and students, I too have friends over there and hope they are ok. This is a tragedy of colossal proportions.

[vintsqyuid]

The death toll is up to 31 (includes the gunman).
I cant believe these kind of shootings occur in schools.
R.I.P.

[ImmitsRom]

Death toll is now 32 including the gunman. They have pictures on CNN and online of the police pulling out the bodies of the dead students.

This is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. History. These are sad times. As a student this is a very sad day and my heart goes out to everybody.

[seosoftseo]

Who was he?

Any details on how/why he did this?

What was he using that he could just wande the campus and spray shells?

[Verger99]

The death toll is up to 31 (includes the gunman).
I cant believe these kind of shootings occur in schools.
R.I.P.

We still have to get the details of how that piece of garbage got a hold of the gun but I wouldnt be surprised if the NRA might have facilitated this in someway.

My condonlences to all of the victims families.

[Baromaro]

The key to opposing the NRA is not to take on the obvious end-game that they are saying is their "constitutional right" to "defend".

What needs to be done is to see who is earning money from this, how and why. If we can find a way to make it less profitable for these institutions to even exist we would not have to fight about such stupid hangups as delays in licensing or purchasing of weapons.

Hell, 10 years ago it would take 6-8 weeks to get a Popeil Turnip Twaddler (tm, r) what is this outrage about having to wait 5 days for a license?

If there was some way to seperate their argument and support base from what was actually keeping them going, you would not have this problem.

As for the shooting, I would not blame the availability of guns as a direct contributor to this. Not yet, at least. Arguing the laxity (if that is a word) of current firearm legislation as a proponent cause of shootings like this BEFORE it is deetrmined that it WAS a legally obtained weapon runs the risk of being discredited if the gun was stolen, illegally obtained or "borrowed" from its rightful owner.

I know, splitting hairs, but that is what these guys are best at. It is always best to go into a fight freshly shaven when you are dealing with hair-splitters!!!

[markoiutrfffdsa]

Who was he?

Any details on how/why he did this?

What was he using that he could just wande the campus and spray shells?

This coming from a friend of mine who has a lot of friends on the campus: the guy was a student, shot his RA (residential advisor) first around 7 in the morning, then rolled up to the main campus with 2 9-mm guns. Most of the shooting/deaths took place in one large lecture hall in the a science/engineering building.

[Habalinnyf]

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/xp-21770

[Grieryaliny]

Interesting link to that article.

This is truly a tragic event. I hope they rest in peace. And I do hope that their families find peace.

As for gun control, well, McVeigh never fired a bullet, even though he was army trained and probably had the weapons to use. However, that said, more controls do make sense.

Just try and take a gun away from a farm boy, it would be pretty hard I guess. Most of them need to use them on the land, and have no problem. 99.99% of the farm boys have no problem with guns 100% of the time.

This sounds like a total abberation in human behavior that is, thankfully, rare.

This really makes me sad.

[spiveker]

Piano thx for the update. My friend Aurora had a friend of her's shot and is one of the ones wounded in the hospital. No word on how bad is it. Just keep her in your prayers.

[italertb]

From Threat Level, a blog:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/200...oting_sur.html

Derek O'Dell, a sophomore biology major, was in class in Norris Hall when a gunman walked in and started firing. MSNBC interviewed O'Dell from the hospital, where he was recovering from a bullet wound to his arm. "At first I thought it was joke," O'Dell said. "He just started shooting." O'Dell said he was one of 10-15 people shot in his classroom, possibly including his professor. After the gunman moved on, the survivors barricaded the door. O'Dell described the shooter: "He was about in his 20's, I would say. He was Asian. He had on a maroon hat and a black leather jacket."
Here's a cell phone video of the VT campus. In the background, you can hear multiple gunshots going off.

This makes me very sad. Ill say a prayer for the victims, and your friends JC.

[Dogxzysl]

Why am i not surprised???

RIP

[Nfvzjvcl]

Horrific.

Violence is a plague in this country. Congress is too bogged down telling people who to love with hoopla over same sex marriage to deal with issues that really do hurt other people. The priorities of this country are messed up.

[Dwnijzhd]

33 Dead in Virginia Tech Shootings, At Least 30 Injured

By Robert E. Pierre, Sari Horwitz and Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, April 16, 2007; 6:36 PM

Thirty-three people were killed and at least 30 injured during a shooting rampage this morning at Virginia Tech, making it the deadliest such spree in U.S. history.

The unidentified shooter was among the dead. Law enforcement authorities, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the shooter used two 9mm pistols. They also said that the shooter was not carrying identification and his head wounds were so severe that authorities could not immediately identify him.

The shootings, which included both students and staff members, took place at West Ambler Johnston, a dormitory, and Norris Hall, which houses the College of Engineering, at opposite ends of the sprawling campus. Authorities said the first shooting was reported shortly after 7 a.m. at the dorm and the second about two hours later at Norris Hall.

Trey Perkins, who was sitting in room 207 in Norris Hall, said the gunman barged into the room at about 9:50 a.m. and opened fire for about a minute and a half. "Some 30 shots in all," said Perkins, who was seated in the back of the room.

It was a German class, Perkins said, and there were about 15 students in the room. The gunman, who was holding two pistols, Perkins said, first shot the professor in the head and kept on shooting at the students. Perkins said the student was of Asian descent, "around 19," and had "very serious but very calm look on his face."

"Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering, who sounded shaken on the phone. "And the shots seemed like it lasted forever."

Charles Steger, president of the university, said at a later afternoon news conference that 31 people, including the gunman were killed at Norris Hall and two others died at the dorm. He said there was no connection between the two shootings, however, law enforcement sources told The Washington Post that a single shooter was responsible for both incidents. He said a list of the dead was not likely to be released until tomorrow.

During the news conference, Steger and Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said the shooter at Norris Hall chained the doors to the building from the inside.

Steger was questioned repeatedly about university officials' decision not to lock down the campus after the initial shooting, in which a man and a woman were killed in a dormitory room. He said that at the time, about 7:15 a.m., officials thought the incident was contained, and also said that it might not have been effective because many students would already have been in transit to their 8 a.m. classes.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," Steger said at an earlier news conference. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified that this would befall us."

President Bush, in an afternoon news conference, said the shooting affected the entire country.

"Schools should be a place of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community," he said. "Today our nation grieves for those who have lost loved ones."

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who was just beginning a two-week trade mission to Asia, said he was notified of the shootings at Virginia Tech around midnight Tokyo time. He later talked to Bush, who pledged federal support if Virginia needs it.

Kaine, noting that students were terrorized last summer by reports of an armed escaped prisoner who was caught near the campus, in addition to today's massacre, told CNN that the Blacksburg community "has been through a lot. It's a tight community with a great deal of spirit."

The governor said he would fly to Blacksburg overnight so he can attend a planned convocation today at the school. He also declared a state of emergency and ordered that the commonwealth flag be flown at half-staff in memory of the victims.

University officials, who have been inundated with calls from worried parents, urged students on the school website to contact their parents as soon as possible.

The shooting at Virginia Tech comes just four days before the anniversary of the Columbine High School slaying, in which 12 students and a teacher were gunned down by two students who spent months plotting the attack. The shooters killed themselves.

The previous worst mass shooting in U.S. history occurred Oct. 16, 1991, at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. George Hennard rammed his truck into the cafeteria and opened fire on the lunchtime crowd, killing 22 people before turning his gun on himself and taking his own life.

Area hospitals treating the wounded have reported at least 10 people are in critical condition and several are in surgery.

Earlier in the day, university officials confirmed a lower number of fatalities.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum, speaking at a news conference today, said he did not know whether the shooter was a student. Some of those killed were students in a classroom at Norris Hall, he said.

On the first day of the school year last August, Virginia Tech was shut down because of concerns that a gunman was on campus. The man, an escaped inmate accused of killing a sheriff's deputy and a security guard, was later captured near the school grounds.

The 2,600-acre campus, about four hours southwest of Washington, was shut down for the day. Families trying to find students are advised to meet them at the Inn at Virginia Tech. The university, founded in 1872, has more than 25,000 fulltime students.

Counseling has been set up in the Merriman Center for employees and students. A convocation has been scheduled for noon tomorrow so the campus could begin healing.

CNN showed a video taken by a student using a camera phone in which dozens of shots could be heard. It was unclear whether the gunman or police fired the shots.

At least four area hospitals are treating the wounded.

At the White House, deputy press secretary Dana Perino said: "The president was made aware of the Virginia Tech shootings. He was horrified. And his immediate reaction was one of deep concern for the families of the victims, the victims themselves, the students, the professors and all the people of Virginia who have dealt with this shocking incident. And his thoughts and prayers are with them."

Carol Chappell, spokeswoman for Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem and Montgomery Regional in Blacksburg, said five of the injured were being treated at Lewis-Gale, which is a 521-bed facility. She said some of the injured at Lewis-Gale were referred from Montgomery Medical. Of the five patients admitted, four were students and one was a faculty member, she said. Two of the most critical were in surgery at 3 p.m.

She said 18 students are being treated at Montgomery Regional. Four of the most critical were in surgery in the middle of the afternoon. All were being treated for gunshot wounds and other unspecified injuries.

"It's so overwhelming," she said.

Eric Earnhart, spokesman for the Carilion New River Hospital near Radford and the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital said four people were being treated at New River, which is about 20 minutes from Blacksburg. Three are in stable condition and one is in critical condition, he said.

Roanoke Memorial, 45 minutes from Blacksburg and part of Carilion's 10-hospital system in western Virginia, is treating 3 of the injured, all in critical condition, Earnhart said. All seven of the injured at the two hospitals were inflicted with gunshot wounds.

Earnhart confirmed that the four hospitals treating patients involved in the shooting were Memorial Regional, New River, Roanoke Memorial, a Level 1 Trauma Center, and Lewis-Gale.

Students and staff were notified by e-mail and automated voicemails that a gunman was on the loose and that everyone should stay in their buildings and "away from windows."

All across campus, people were trying to figure out what was happening, with cell phones sometimes working and sometimes not, the university Web site sometimes working and sometimes not, and the sound of sirens everywhere. Many watched from inside dorm rooms or offices, trading rumors and bad news. The co-ed West Ambler Johnston dorm is one of the largest residence halls on campus, housing 895 residents.

Wayne Neu, a professor of ocean engineering, was in his office across from Norris Hall when he heard shots, including what sounded like a police shotgun. "I saw one faculty member who was shot in the arm apparently being led away," he said. "I've been here 25 years I've never seen something like this happen."

Matteo del Ninno, a junior from Alexandria, had overslept and was rushing to his 10:10 a.m. class in Norris 200, when his girlfriend text-messaged him to see if he was OK. He hadn't heard anything about shootings but noticed the ambulances around; after her warning he went back to his house next to campus and checked all his messages. He's worried about his friends, engineering students who always meet before class in the hall.

Staff and students contacted by telephone said the morning's events were unnerving.

One woman who answered the phone in the school's Entomology Department said that about 9:45, they were notified that everyone was to remain in their offices and not venture out but were not given any other details. "There's cop cars everywhere," said the woman.

Another worker at the university, who also did not wish to be identified, said that there has been a dearth of information, except what could be gleaned from news reports.

"We're all just staying put," said the second woman.

Staff writer Bill Brubaker, Susan Kinzie, Howard Schneider and Jose Antonio Vargas contributed to this report.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

[hoarrimilsora]

Special report on Dateline right now.

[Immampdah]

Witness survives by pretending to be dead



A candlelight vigil in Blacksburg, Virginia.


April 16, 2007

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- A gunman who killed at least 30 people at one of two shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech Monday was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout," said a woman who survived by pretending to lie dead on a classroom floor.

Two people were killed in a separate incident about two hours earlier around 7:15 a.m at a dormitory on the campus. University police Chief Wendell Flinchum said police were still investigating whether the two incidents are related.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, Flinchum did not rule out a separate shooter for the dormitory incident. At the time of the later shootings at Norris Hall, police were investigating a "person of interest" in the dormitory shootings, Flinchum said. But the man -- a non-student who knew one of the victims -- had not been arrested, and it is unclear if he has any link to the other gunman, he said.

The death total at Norris Hall makes it the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.

Erin Sheehan described the gunman -- who later shot and killed himself, according to police -- as a young man wearing a short-sleeved tan shirt and black ammunition vest.

He peeked in the door a couple of times before returning and opening fire with a black handgun, first on the professor and then on the students, she said.

"He was very silent," said Sheehan, one of only four students in her 25-student German class who were not shot. "He seemed very thorough about it."

Sheehan fell to the ground and pretended to be dead after the gunman's first entrance. But about 30 seconds later, the man returned and opened fire a second time "because I guess he heard us still talking."

"We forced ourselves against the door so he couldn't come in again because the door would not lock," Sheehan said. At that point, the man began firing through the door.

Flinchum said at a Monday night news conference that they had a preliminary identification of the shooter at Norris Hall but were not releasing it.

A law enforcement source close to the investigation told CNN a 22-caliber handgun and a 9 mm handgun were recovered at the scene.

Student Tiffany Otey was taking a test inside Norris Hall when the shooting began. She and about 20 other people took refuge behind a locked door in a teacher's office.

"It was like a continuous gunfire, going off like every second or so," she said.

University President Charles Steger told reporters Monday night that police found the front doors of Norris chained shut and that by the time they got to the second floor, the gunfire stopped.

Asked why the campus, which has more than 26,000 students, was not shut down after the first shooting, Flinchum responded that police determined "it was an isolated event to that building and the decision was made not to cancel classes at that time."

Steger added, "We had some reason to believe the shooter had left campus."

Spokespersons for hospitals in Roanoke, Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Salem told CNN soon after the shootings they were treating a total of 29 injured people from the incidents.

Sharon Honaker with Carilion New River Medical Center in Christiansburg said one of the four gunshot victims being treated there was in critical condition.

Scott Hill, a spokesman for Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, said 17 wounded students were taken there.

The first reported shootings occurred at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory that houses 895 students. The dormitory, one of the largest residence halls on the 2,600-acre campus, is located near the drill field and stadium.

Amie Steele, editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, said one of her reporters at the dormitory where the first shootings occured reported "mass chaos."

The reporter said there were "lots of students running around, going crazy, and the police officers were trying to settle everyone down and keep everything under control," according to Steele.


Campus Map:




Student reports 'mayhem'


During the second shooting, two hours later, Student Matt Waldron said he did not hear the gunshots because he was listening to music, but heard police sirens and saw officers hiding behind trees with their guns drawn.

"They told us to get out of there so we ran across the drill field as quick as we could," he said.

Waldron described the scene on campus as "mayhem."

"It was kind of scary," he said. "These two kids I guess had panicked and jumped out of the top-story window and the one kid broke his ankle and the other girl was not in good shape just lying on the ground."

Courtney Dalton, a 18-year-old student who worked at West End Dining Hall, said one of her friends had been killed.

"All I can do is pray for his family now," she told CNN.com.

Laura Lisbeth, a 19-year-old sophomore, told CNN.com on Monday evening that while she was at Holtzman Alumni Center she saw one of her friends who had been shot in the arm.

Lisbeth said she was shaken by the day's events.

"I'm terrified," she said. "It's gonna be so hard to walk back into class and trust that nothing bad will happen."

Madison Van Duyne said she and her classmates in a media writing class were on "lockdown" in their classroom. They were huddled in the middle of the classroom, writing stories about the shootings and posting them online.

The university is updating students through e-mails, and an Internet webcam is broadcasting live pictures of the campus.

Last August, the first day of class was cut short by a manhunt for an escaped prisoner accused of killing a Blacksburg hospital security guard and a sheriff's deputy.

After Monday's shootings, students were instructed to stay indoors and away from windows, according to a university statement.

The university has scheduled a convocation for 2 p.m. ET Tuesday. Classes also have been canceled Tuesday. In Washington, the House and Senate observed moments of silence for the victims and President Bush said the nation was "shocked and saddened" by news of the tragedy.

"Today, our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones," he said. "We hold the victims in our hearts, we lift them up in our prayers and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today."

Before Monday, the deadliest mass shooting occurred in 1991, when George Hennard drove a pickup truck into a Killeen, Texas, cafeteria and fatally shot 23 people, before shooting and killing himself.

The deadliest school shootings came in 1966 and 1999. In the former, Charles Joseph Whitman, a 25-year-old ex-Marine, killed 13 people on the University of Texas campus. He was killed by police.

In 1999, 17-year-old Dylan Klebold and 18-year-old Eric Harris -- armed with guns and pipe bombs -- killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.


© 2007 Cable News Network.

[t78VPkdO]

Cue up the Boomtown Rats singing "I Don't Like Mondays."

[SonicPs]

In the olden days, Virginia Tech emergencies were annnounced via Thomas Edison megaphones by patrolmen mounted on horses.
Here's how it's done in 2007:

How Virginia Tech Notified Students of Shooting

Monday, April 16, 2007; 7:00 PM

Here is the official e-mail communication between Virginia Tech University officials and students, faculty, parents and others signed up on the school's list serve. The first 911 call was made at 7:15 a.m. to the university police department. Classes start at 8 a.m.

9:26 a.m.

Subject: Shooting on campus.

A shooting incident occurred at West Ambler Johnston earlier this morning.
Police are on the scene and are investigating.

The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case. Contact Virginia Tech Police at 231-6411 Stay attuned to the www.vt.edu. We will post as soon as we have more information.


9:50 a.m.

Subject: Please stay put

A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows.


10:16 a.m.

Subject: All Classes Canceled; Stay where you are

Virginia Tech has canceled all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where [they] are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus.


10:52 a.m.

Subject: Second Shooting Reported; Police have one gunman in custody

In addition to an earlier shooting today in West Ambler Johnston, there has been a multiple shooting with multiple victims in Norris Hall.
Police and EMS are on the scene.

Police have one shooter in custody and as part of routine police procedure, they continue to search for a second shooter.

All people in university buildings are required to stay inside until further notice.

All entrances to campus are closed.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041601105.html