[media-credit name=’BEN CLASSON/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]A University of Wisconsin envoy of three faculty members and five students who were on the scene of the Virginia Tech shooting returned to Madison Tuesday safe and secure, but with heavy hearts.

Electrical engineering professor Tom Lipo spoke on behalf of the group at a press conference last night where he described the chaotic scene from a day before.

While speaking at a science convention for the National Science Foundation, Lipo was only a five-minute walk from the scene of the tragedies.

Lipo, who was chair of the meeting, said he was introducing speakers at around 8:00 a.m. when an announcement was made of a bomb threat. However, since the school had received a barrage of similar notifications in recent weeks, Lipo said it was brushed off as "business as usual."

"It was made known that someone was shot; then another hour later they said that all the buildings in the university had shut down and the building I was in was on lockdown," Lipo said. "At 11:00 a.m., we had to abandon our auditorium to set up a press conference. It was quite obvious something serious had happened."

The presentation continued in another room until an announcement was made that 20 individuals had been shot.

"The 100 people there were in shock — you could hear a pin drop," Lipo said. "That was incredible to hear. It was something that nobody could believe."

Lipo then thought about his students, who were temporarily unreachable while they prepared their presentations in another part of the Blacksburg, Va., campus.

Since UW is rounding out its academic year, UW Communications said the students will not be fielding questions about the events, but will take time to handle the traumatic experience, along with Lipo, who said he meditated Monday night after returning to his hotel room in shock.

"They were pretty traumatized, too," Lipo said. "I think we'll all benefit from some quiet time and reflection tomorrow. I think we could use that."

Lipo described the somber scene on the Virginia Tech campus late Monday night as thousands of students and faculty were searching for answers and sobbing as rumored names of victims floated around.

"Once it was known that a large number were killed, then we just all fell apart," Lipo said.

After Lipo made contact with his students, he said he left them to contact their families while he did the same.

UW Dean of Students Lori Berquam, who also spoke at the press conference, encouraged students and faculty interested in aiding the students in Virginia to donate to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund available on the Virginia Tech website to offset costs of grief counseling and contribute to a variety of memorials.

Berquam also invited interested UW faculty, staff and students to participate in a vigil tonight at 5:30 in room 272 at Bascom Hall.