NEWS
Tragedy beyond belief
CHARLES DHARAPAK/Associated Press
MATT GENTRY (THE ROANOKE TIMES)/Associated Press
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Also by Associated Press correspondent:
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- Institute shuts down UW lab (September 20, 2007)
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by Associated Press correspondent
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history Monday, cutting down his victims in two attacks two hours apart before the university could grasp what was happening and warn students.
The bloodbath ended with the gunman committing suicide, bringing the death toll to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy, perhaps forever.
Investigators gave no motive for the attack. The gunman's name was not immediately released, and it was not known whether he was a student.
"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."
But he was also faced with difficult questions about the university's handling of the emergency and whether it did enough to warn students and protect them after the first burst of gunfire. Some students bitterly complained they got no warning from the university until an e-mail that arrived more than two hours after the first shots rang out.
Wielding two handguns and carrying multiple clips of ammunition, the killer opened fire about 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston, a high-rise coed dormitory, then stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building a half-mile away on the other side of the 2,600-acre campus. Some of the doors at Norris Hall were found chained from the inside, apparently by the gunman.
Two people died in a dorm room, and 31 others were killed in Norris Hall, including the gunman, who put a bullet in his head. At least 15 people were hurt, some seriously. Students jumped from windows in panic.
Alec Calhoun, a 20-year-old junior, said he was in a 9:05 a.m. mechanics class when he and classmates heard a thunderous sound from the classroom next door _ "what sounded like an enormous hammer."
Screams followed an instant later, and the banging continued. When students realized the sounds were gunshots, Calhoun said, he started flipping over desks for hiding places. Others dashed to the windows of the second-floor classroom, kicking out the screens and jumping from the ledge of Room 204, he said.
"I must've been the eighth or ninth person who jumped, and I think I was the last," said Calhoun, of Waynesboro, Va. He landed in a bush and ran.
Calhoun said that the two students behind him were shot, but that he believed they survived. Just before he climbed out the window, Calhoun said, he turned to look at the professor, who had stayed behind, perhaps to block the door.
The instructor was killed, he said.
At an evening news conference, Police Chief Wendell Flinchum refused to dismiss the possibility that a co-conspirator or second shooter was involved. He said police had interviewed a male who was a "person of interest" in the dorm shooting who knew one of the victims, but he declined to give details.
"I'm not saying there's a gunman on the loose," Flinchum said. Ballistics tests will help explain what happened, he said.
Sheree Mixell, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the evidence was being moved to the agency's national lab in Annandale. At least one firearm was turned over, she said.
Mixell would not comment on what types of weapons were used or whether the gunman was a student.
Young people and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive. Many found themselves trapped behind chained and padlocked doors. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. A student used his cell-phone camera to record the sound of bullets echoing through a stone building.
Trey Perkins, who was sitting in a German class in Norris Hall, told The Washington Post that the gunman barged into the room at about 9:50 a.m. and opened fire for about a minute and a half, squeezing off about 30 shots.
The gunman first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the students, Perkins said. The gunman was about 19 years old and had a "very serious but very calm look on his face," he said.
"Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. "And the shots seemed like it lasted forever."
Erin Sheehan, who was also in the German class, told the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, that she was one of only four of about two dozen people in the class to walk out of the room. The rest were dead or wounded, she said.
She said the gunman "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."
Students said that there were no public-address announcements after the first shots. Many said they learned of the first shooting in an e-mail that arrived shortly before the gunman struck again.
"I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident," said Billy Bason, 18, who lives on the seventh floor of the dorm.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 3:40am):
:(
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 11:24am):
Plain and simple, Virginia Tech officials were negligent in their efforts (or lack thereof) to inform students of what had happened after the first shooting. They didn't even think the gunman was on campus, and no one stopped him from leaving the dorm where the first shooting occurred. I will be shocked and disappointed if no lawsuit is filed against Virginia Tech for this incident.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 1:04pm):
11:24am -- So, how is the administration suppost to deal with such an incident? Close down the entire state of Virginia? Who knew where the gunman was going to go next. He might have just as well gotten in a car and drove to a crowded restaurant, book store, cafeteria to find his next victims. Why would closing the entire campus be the next logical step when it appeared to be an isolated domestic incident? If they had closed the campus, everybody would be rushing out of buildings across the commons, a perfect situation for a gunman who wanted to kill hundreds.
So the next time there is a shooting, do you want the entire nation to be shut down? Shit happens, and sometimes it doesn't make any sense. But, do you really want to live in a police state that goes into lockdown every time somebody sneezes, 'cause the administration is afraid of getting sued all the time? Not me. I'll take my chances with a gunman.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 3:14pm):
Absolutely right 1:04. Hindsight is wonderful, but that is what it is; hindsight. The first 2 killed were in the same dorm room. First, the most likely scenario there is a domestic dispute, as it was one male, one female. Second, how many times does someone stick around after committing a homicide, much less wait a few hours then go at it again? The police had no reason to believe that anything more would happen. Looking back, would it have saved lives if they had shut down the campus? Sure. But it simply is not a reasonable thing to do. 11:24, I will be disappointed when someone files a multimillion dollar lawsuit with the university that will ultimately end up being paid for by the victims of this tragedy; the students.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 4:00pm):
First of all this was a major tragedy and I feel for all the families. But, this is where I have a problem. Why, after getting bomb threats did that University not take it seriouslly enough to up the security? Many lives could have been saved if they did what should have been done. Now look what they are facing. Also, the swat teams and the other law enforcement stood by and did nothing as this man kept shooting. They are trained to take people like this down and they didnt. They failed along with not taking things seriouslly.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 4:02pm):
1:04 -- I understand what you're saying, but it was preventable if even a few students in that dorm stepped up as heroes and gang-tackled the gunman before he could escape the dorm after the first shooting, instead of being spineless cowards and hiding in their rooms. That said, Virginia Tech took their good old time to even notify students and staff that a gunman killed someone in a residence hall. Campus lockdown may not have been appropriate for a single murder, but certainly students could have been notified.
Yes, this is a senseless tragedy and Virginia Tech's reputation has probably been destroyed beyond repair. Plus, it happened in the middle of April when students commit to universities. I bet their freshman class for 2007-08 will be tiny.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 4:29pm):
people who keep asking why the campus was not shut down have obviously never been to virginia tech. their "campus" is a lot like our campus...in that it's more like an entire city. it's easy to look back and say that they should have locked it down, but what does that even mean? telling people to stay inside wherever they are? for how long? until they find the guy responsible? the last time i checked, it's not very common to find murderers right after they kill people. especially in a city like blacksburg with multiple ways out. imagine putting UW on lockdown. think about how many people would completely blow it off and go on with their daily lives. or, consider the number of people who would complain about a whole day's worth of class being cancelled because of a lone incident. i think that finger pointing is not going to get anyone anywhere, and the most important thing to do now is help the students cope with this unthinkable tragedy.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 6:31pm):
"I understand what you're saying, but it was preventable if even a few students in that dorm stepped up as heroes and gang-tackled the gunman before he could escape the dorm after the first shooting, instead of being spineless cowards and hiding in their rooms."
Who are you, John Derbyshire? Have you ever had a loaded gun pointed at you by someone who intended to kill you? I doubt it, and I doubt you would have had the guts to step up and tackle the attacker anyway. It's far more likely you would have wet yourself.
Way to blame the victims, jerk.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 7:40pm):
Why was there NO picture of any victim??? Was it really necessary to see two photos of police AND of crying people.
Hello! What kind of journalism is being practiced by you guys
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 8:42pm):
4:02, I hope you're the first person to step up and tackle someone wielding a gun and on a shooting rampage if you're ever in the situation. You wouldn't want to be a spineless coward.
Anonymous (April 17, 2007 @ 8:46pm):
We send our condolences to all even the ones who survived ...We wish there could have been more done to stop this massacre. Coppin State University B-More, MD
Anonymous (April 19, 2007 @ 11:08am):
4:02 speaking here -- what about the heroes on Flight 93 who prevented the plane from blowing up the White House? If someone in that dorm had been like that, the incident wouldn't have happened.
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