22 dead at Virgina Tech

[T-Bird76]

This is just shocking and heart breaking.

Official: 22 dead in Va. Tech shooting
Suspect killed in campus carnage
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:49 p.m. ET April 16, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. - At least 22 people were killed Monday in a shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus, police said. They said the gunman was among the dead.

In addition to those killed, officials said at least 28 people were wounded.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said the gunman was dead, but that he didn't know how he died.

"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 university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. local time at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

At least one student was killed in the dorm and others were killed in the classroom, Flinchum said.

After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed.

"There's just a lot of commotion. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on," said Jason Anthony Smith, 19, who lives in the dorm.

Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on the fourth floor of the dorm, one floor above her room. Kanode's resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify students to stay put.

"They had us under lockdown," Kanode said. "They temporarily lifted the lockdown; the gunman shot again."

"We're all locked in our dorms surfing the Internet trying to figure out what's going on," Kanode said.

Madison Van Duyne, a student who was interviewed by telephone on CNN, said, "Most of the students are sitting on the floors away from the windows just trying to be as safe as possible."

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus.

The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

This breaking story will be updated.


© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18134671/

[Matt Molnar]

ABC News now reporting 25 dead, with number of fatalities expected to rise further. :(

[Matt Molnar]

Now 29 total.

[PhilDernerJr]

I wonder if this is just another random Columbine-style act of violence or if this is this something more.

[Mellyrose]

31 reported dead. Very upsetting.

[USAF Pilot 07]

From a friend who's got a bro at VT, this is what he said:

Apparently some dude got in a fight with his girlfriend. Maybe he was on the phone or something, but he could be heard in his dorm screaming and throwing stuff. The RA came by, told him to be quiet since everyone could hear him, and the guy shot the RA and a girl with him.

After this, the guy went to his gf's class, and from there went rambo on everyone...

Latest Death toll I saw was 34... RIP

[PhilDernerJr]

The President of the University seems like a confused idiot. You can't exactly plan for this stuff, and the media seems to be going hard on the guy already, but he seems to have had a very poor security plan, which you'd have thought would have been created after the previous shooting at the school last September.

[GrummanFan]

A few weeks ago, we had a suicide at my college, but it was initially reported as a possible shooting (I posted pics of it somewhere in the photography section). In less than an hour, the campus was shut down, the building was secured, and two SWAT teams were on campus, searching the building and checking each person individually before they were evacuated. Thank god it was nothing worse, but the administration took a very conservative and cautious approach, and after seeing what happened today, I am glad they took that action.

I can only begin to imagine what the people down in VA must be feeling. Truely horrible.

[NIKV69]

God did the authorities ever drop the ball on this one. By not locking down the entire campus after the original murders they let the other 30 people die. I watched the news conference and the president of VT said they had every reason to believe the gunman had left and most likley had left the state. LOLOL How did you know this? Osmosis? What a moron. Probably the worst handled criminal event in the history of this country.

[Bellucciman]

We've got some massive problems in this country. We're in big trouble...

[Tom_Turner]

Wherever guns are banned - and I am going to go out on a limb and hazard a guess weapons are banned on campus - there is always the potential for a alaughter.

Very unfortunate event. Horrible. RIP.

[Tom_Turner]

God did the authorities ever drop the ball on this one. By not locking down the entire campus after the original murders they let the other 30 people die. I watched the news conference and the president of VT said they had every reason to believe the gunman had left and most likley had left the state. LOLOL How did you know this? Osmosis? What a moron. Probably the worst handled criminal event in the history of this country.

Apart from advising folks to go back to work in the WTC after the 1st plane hit.. yeah, it probably ranks pretty high. :(

[mirrodie]

I was just discussing with my wife. THe saddest part is you send your kids to school, of all places, thinking and hoping its a safe place. You never expect something like this. It's immense. And to think it can happen at any school, any time.

As for the criminals, we loathe them as they are cowards who consistently always seem to take the easy route and kill themselves. Perhaps we should be thanking them for the $$$$ saved in not jailing them and making a mockery of our court systems. But they always off themselves in the end and leave so many mysteries unsolved.

Our hearts and prayers go out to all involved.

[Matt Molnar]

Wherever guns are banned - and I am going to go out on a limb and hazard a guess weapons are banned on campus - there is always the potential for a alaughter.

Very unfortunate event. Horrible. RIP.

Some schools do allow students to carry weapons on campus. I've heard conflicting reports about VT's weapons policy, some reports have said they allow it, some said they are banned, but it doesn't matter much now since it seems only the bad guy was armed yesterday.

[Matt Molnar]

The President of the University seems like a confused idiot.

Indeed. He went on Good Morning America this morning and tossed out speculation that there may have been a second shooter! About an hour later the police stated this was almost 100% not true, that ballistics testing had concluded that all the bullets used in the initial shooting in the dorm and the later mass killing in the classrooms had come from the two weapons found next to the dead shooter at the scene. Even if the president had not learned this information by the time he appeared on GMA, he should have said "I don't know" rather than making a statement indicating that a crazed killer might be on the loose, unnecessarily causing more fear and anxiety for students and their families. I guess we can't hold a university president up to the same standards for dealing with an emergency as we would an elected leader, but we should at least expect him not to blurt out things like a completely media-clueless moron.