At least 20 dead in campus shootings

<p>This article is from CNN.com:</p>

<p>The Virginia Tech police chief said at least 20 people were killed in twin shootings on the Blacksburg campus Monday morning.</p>

<p>"Some victims were shot in a classroom," Chief Wendell Flinchum said, adding that the gunman was dead.</p>

<p>"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." (Map of Blacksburg)</p>

<p>The attacks mark the worst school shooting incident since 1999 when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. </p>

<p>A hospital spokeswoman told The Associated Press that 17 Virginia Tech students were being treated for gunshot wounds and other injuries. </p>

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

<p>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. (Watch police, ambulances hustle to the scene )</p>

<p>The first reported shooting occurred at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a 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.</p>

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

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>"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.</p>

<p>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. </p>

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

<p>Waldron described the scene on campus as "mayhem." (Watch a student's recording of police responding to loud bangs )</p>

<p>"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." </p>

<p>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. </p>

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

<p>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. </p>

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

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

<p>"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.</p>

<p>I heard 22, this is such a tragic thing to happen.</p>

<p>My condolences go out to the families of the dead.</p>

<p>Absolutely surreal. As college students, you can't help but feel invincible. "top of the academic food chain, so much ahead of us, bright futures, etc." and it only takes one incident to knock everyone back to reality. My players and condolences go out to the victims, families, friends, and the entire VT community.</p>

<p>31 people now....that's really sad :( the victims are our ages</p>

<p>i just wanna know who the hell it was, and like what the hell his motive was, and if he was a student or not</p>

<p>Why is gun control so lax in these southern and midwestern states? </p>

<p>It's kind of a strange, sick coincidence, but I randomly rented Bowling for Columbine yesterday and watched it for the first time. Michael Moore made the point that guns are really common in Canadian households, but stuff like this doesn't happen there though. So what's the difference between here and there? He contends that we have a media based on fear-mongering to ensure a public that is readily consumeristic, no matter what the new product is to assauge the manufactured anxiety. The side effect is stuff like this, somehow. </p>

<p>But I don't know what to make of horrors like this myself. All I know is that I wish Gore had gotten into office when we elected him the first time--he was pro-gun control.</p>

<p>I think my friend said it the best</p>

<p>
[quote]
It doesn't matter right now if this is a US gun control issue.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter right now whether you think guns kill people or people kill people.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter right now what politics you believe in, what laws or policies you think should be pushed through, or whether you're right, wrong or somewhere in between.</p>

<p>What matters is that 32 innocent young people with their entire lives ahead of them are dead for no reason whatsoever, and many more are injured.</p>

<p>Argue later. Mourn today.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I wasn't arguing, I was asserting how strange it is that I randomly picked up an old documentary about school shootings for no reason yesterday to watch for the first time. Moore explored the history of school shootings, not just Columbine, and today we have the largest one in history. I felt so ill when watching the movie, and after a day of sleeping on it, I wake up and find myself more nauseated than before. It's terrible, terrible, terrible. </p>

<p>If I were trying to start an argument, I would have gone the Bill Bennett route and said that if we aborted every male baby in this country, stuff like this wouldn't happen. THAT would be trying to start an argument.</p>

<p>its sad....but vtech should have cancelled classes @7:45 am</p>

<p>33 people.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I was asserting how strange it is that I randomly picked up an old documentary about school shootings for no reason yesterday to watch for the first time.

[/quote]

Similar thing here. This morning in English, while the shootings were happening (unbeknownst to anyone there), we were reading about childhood violence and the Columbine shootings in "The Military-Nintendo Complex" by John Naisbitt, et al.</p>

<p>i'm sure i speak for the vt community in saying, "thanks for kind words, guys. please keep the families & friends in your prayers."</p>

<p>Feels sickening to have it jump from the pages after ruminating about it, doesn't it m<em>lp</em>ql_m? Sickening...</p>

<p>And what did your article have to say about the matter?</p>

<p>Dicey, maybe if gun control wasn't so tight somebody would have been able to gun this guys ass down b4 he killed 33 people...just a thought.</p>

<p>You mean...gun him down before he managed to kill anybody at all? All because mentally ill people can easily get guns in the first place? Please. Why would anyone need a gun if screwed up people couldn't get them either? </p>

<p>Believe me, I would sing the praises of what gun ownership can do for safety and citizens' rights...if only women were allowed to bear them.</p>

<p>And gun control clearly isn't tight in VA, so how can you use that as an argument?</p>

<p>Women are allowed to bear them :). Anywho it's a moot point, I just feel like anyone who's this messed up that they are willing to go on a shooting spree will find a way to get a gun. If someone had a gun they wouldn't have been able to stop everyone from being killed, but I guarantee 33 people would not have died. I'm just bringing up a topic of debate, by no means do I think that "all people" should be allowed to have guns, but i'd feel a little safer at all times if I had a handgun on me...but then again I consider myself a responsible and reasonable person. Many, I must admit, are not...</p>

<p>So we agree that not all people should have guns. That's the whole point of gun control laws: better regulation of who gets to have them, and a crackdown on unlicensed vendors. Gun shows are notorious for banning media and women from entering, so they can sell/trade illegally.</p>

<p>Yes, women are allowed to bear them, but I meant if only women were allowed to bear them. Better yet, modern weapons should be phased out with the development of Smart Guns that only fire if they detect that a woman is operating it without coercion. </p>

<p>THAT would make society safer.</p>

<p>The cops had guns LaxAttack. Are you done being inappropriate now?</p>

<p>Yes, lets let only women bear guns dicey...they are so rational and so much more moral then men. If you said that in all honesty then you're an idiot, if you said it just messin around then w/e...Your right Cavs, the cops did have guns, and look how much time it took them to show up and enter the building. You cannot make the rational argument that if students in that building had a handgun 33 people would have died. And it's not inappropriate, it's an honest discussion. Guns also serve as a method of self defense</p>

<p>I felt terrible today about what happened. I can't help but think that the worst thing that happened to me today was a failed quiz or something else insignificant, and around in another school kids like me are dead. Some say mourn, but I say we need to get to the root of these incidents and get better information on how to read people's emotions and such. Things like this dont happen just out of nowhere, they build up until it occurs. Somewhere along the line someone failed to recognize that -not blaming- but with more education we might be able to prevent these things.</p>