32 Dead In Gun Rampage

Updated: 18:55, Monday April 16, 2007

 

At least 32 people are feared dead in the worst ever gun rampage on an American university campus.

 

A further 28 were injured before the gunman was himself shot dead, according to reports.

 

The drama happened at the Virginia Tech college in Virginia.

 

Police say the gunman opened fire at people in a classroom and dormitory.

 

Witnesses said he was heavily armed and entered the college looking for his girlfriend.

 

He reportedly lined up students and opened fire at them. He was said to be a young Asian.

 

The name of the gunman has not been released. It is not known if he was a student.

 

United States President George Bush is said to be "horrified" at the killings.

 

"He was horified and his immediate reaction was one of deep concern," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

 

Virginia Tech says there were shootings at both ends of its 2,600-acre campus.

 

The first was at about 0715am at West Ambler Johnston, a co-educational hall of residence that houses 895 people.

 

There were further shootings about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

 

One student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom.

 

One first-year student said the shootings at West Ambler Johnston were on the fourth floor, one above her room.

 

The resident assistant in her dormitory knocked on her door about 8am and told her to stay put.

 

"They had us under lockdown," said the student. "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," she added.

 

Virginia Tech, which has 26,000 students, is located in the southwest corner of the state, about 240 miles from Washington DC.

 

The rampage was one of the worst on a university campus in the US since Charles Whitman ran amok at the University of Texas in August, 1966.

 

He killed 15 people, including his mother and wife the night before, and wounded 31 others.

 

 

 

source: news.sky.com

 

 

 

 

 

My God... That's... unbelievable. My prayers to the families of the victims...

i came here to post something about this, it is really shocking and certainly scary for the people who are there.

//

 

April 16, 2007— At least 29 people are dead in what may be the biggest mass shooting in modern American history — and the death toll may rise.

Police at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Va., said that the shootings happened at a dormitory and a classroom on opposite sides of the university campus.

 

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Law enforcement sources tell ABC News an off-campus incident may have sparked the shooting, but details were unclear.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said that one person was killed in the first shooting, which occurred just after 7 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a large dormitory. Flinchum said that at least 20 more people were killed at Norris Hall, an academic building. At least 17 injured students were admitted to local hospitals — all of them being treated for gunshot wounds.

 

Eyewitness: '40 or 50 shots'

 

 

 

Engineering student Josh Wargo, a junior at Virginia Tech, said he was sitting in class when students began to hear "loud banging noises" followed by screaming. He said many students panicked. Some began to jump out of a window two stories above ground level.

"We heard almost 40 or 50 shots," Wargo told ABC News. "They were going on from the time we heard them and jumped out the window until almost two minutes later."

"When I landed, I was in a daze, standing outside of the building," Wargo said. "Then I heard shots going through glass — that's when it hit me that I had to get out of there.

 

"One of my friends called me to make sure that everyone is OK, I'm told that they're in stable condition, but some of them got shot," Wargo said. "They told me my prof was shot in the face and didn't make it but we're not sure," he added.

 

Shootings Follow Two Bomb Threats

 

 

 

ABC News has confirmed that there were two separate bomb threats last week at Virginia Tech that targeted engineering buildings. The first was directed at Torgersen Hall, a classroom and laboratory building, while the second was directed at multiple engineering buildings. Students and staff were evacuated, and the university had offered a $5,000 reward for information into the threats.

"I got the e-mails, but my impression was it was prank or nothing serious," said Wargo, describing the Blacksburg campus as "pretty peaceful."

 

The gunman, whose identity has not been released, is among the dead. Flinchum would not say whether the shooter had killed himself.

 

The campus is closed and classes are canceled for at least today and tomorrow. Families seeking to reunite with their children have been directed by the university to the Inn at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech, located in the western end of the state near the borders of West Virginia and Tennessee, has more than 28,000 full time students. Its campus, which spreads out over 2,600 acres, has more than 100 buildings.

 

"The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental proportions," said university president Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and horrified that this would befall our campus."

 

This is the second violent incident to occur at the Virginia Tech campus in the last year.

In August, an escaped inmate who allegedly killed a sheriff's deputy and a security guard was found hiding in the brush near Virginia Tech's athletic fields. While he was missing, students were told to stay in their rooms, and classes were canceled on the first day of the school year.

 

'Utter Shock'

 

 

 

S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president for Security On Campus, Inc. who has been studying campus crime for 15 years, said he watched the news at Virginia Tech unfold in "utter shock." Carter is based a couple of hours' drive away, in Knoxville, Tenn.

 

"Nothing like this has happened before," he said, adding that the average number of killings on all American campuses combined has hovered around 20 since the Department of Education formally began collecting data in the early 1990s.

 

While information had not been released about the gunman, Carter said he suspected that whoever the shooter was suffered from some deep psychological problem and was likely connected to the university campus in some way.

 

"In the past, in similar cases, it's usually been a psychological issue and not just a security issue," Carter said. "One of the people who was killed was an older individual, maybe a faculty member. That could be a likely underlying factor in this case — someone who has failed."

 

 

"It is difficult to comprehend senseless violence on this scale," said Virginia's Governor Timothy M. Kaine in a statement. "Our prayers are with the families and friends of these victims, and members of the extended Virginia Tech community."

The governor was on a trip to Japan, but his press office said he was trying to get to Blacksburg as quickly as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

abc news

:cry: Not again.

Wow. How easy was it for him to get in?

Rest in Peace the 29 dead :(

 

Another sad day.

Reports say the number has risen to 32 including the shooter.

 

What happened in those 2 hours though?

32 confirmed dead. And its pretty easy for a student to get pretty much anywhere in a college campus. This sick fucking wuss just makes me so... i cant even describe it other than the feeling i kind of got on 9/11.

Wow just reading this has given me shivers. My thoughts and prayers to all the victims and their families.

He just lined them up and shot them.

 

It's easy to be a big man when you're packing a gun, I guess. Fucking coward!

 

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, this has left me in tears. It does feel a little like Sept. 11th.

 

God bless their souls and their families.

Students and faculty at Virginia Tech University were in shock Monday after a gunman shot and killed at least 31 people and injured 21 during the most deadly shooting spree in U.S. history.

 

Federal law enforcement officials told FOX News that 32 are dead, including the shooter. Police at the campus in Blacksburg, Va., said there was only one shooter responsible for the two shootings, which occurred about two hours apart from each other.

 

But there are still many questions left unanswered, including who the shooter was, whether he was a student, why no one saw or stopped him in between shootings, and why he decided to launch the killing spree.

 

"The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said during a press conference shortly after noon. "The university is shocked and horrified that this would befall our campus ... I cannot begin to convey my own personal sense of loss over this senselessness of such an incomprehensible and heinous act."

 

Steger said school officials are notifying victims' next of kin, and state police and the FBI are still investigating the various crime scenes. They are still trying to identify all the victims. The university will set up counseling centers for students and faculty.

(Story continues below)

 

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The Web site for the campus newspaper, The Collegiate Times, reported that police have recovered two 9mm handguns. That report was not yet confirmed by FOX News.

 

At 7:15 a.m. Monday, a 911 call came in to the campus police department concerning an incident at West Ambler Johnston, a residence hall, and that there were multiple shooting victims. While that investigation was underway, a second shooting was reported in Norris Hall, located at the opposite end of the 2,600-acre campus.

 

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said at least one person was killed at West Ambler Johnston but several others were injured in that shooting. The others were killed in Norris Hall, Flinchum said.

Virginia Tech is planning a 4 p.m. EDT press conference.

 

Flinchum said the Norris Hall gunman was dead, but wouldn't say whether the shooter killed himself.

 

Junior David Jenkins told FOX News he heard screaming in his dorm inside West Ambler Johnston residence hall Monday morning, but didn't know what it was. He later heard from other residents that there was a gunman in the building. Jenkins later heard of the mass shootings at Norris Hall.

 

"From what I heard, he chained up some of the doors so people couldn't get in and he basically was just going to every classroom trying to get in, and just started shooting inside classrooms," Jenkins said.

One of his friends was in a Norris classroom targeted by the gunman, Jenkins said.

 

"He was very fortunate," Jenkins said. "He said every single person in the room was shot, killed and was in the ground. He laid on the ground with everyone … he played dead and he was OK."

 

Victims were being treated at Montgomery Regional Hospital and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg with gunshot wounds and other injuries.

 

President Bush was "horrified" of news of shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. The White House is monitoring the incident. Local NBC affiliate WSLS reported that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who was heading for a meeting in Tokyo, Japan, for a two-week trade mission, is now returning to the United States. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives both held a moment of silence.

 

Last August, the campus was closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy involved in a massive manhunt. The accused gunman, William Morva , faces capital murder charges.

 

On April 13, the campus closed three of its academic halls after they received a letter stating that explosive devices were in the building. Classes were canceled for the remainder of the day. A bomb threat was also made against Torgerson Hall on April 2. A $5,000 reward has been offered for any information on those threats.

 

"For some reason, this just seemed a little different … it was more than just a sick joke someone was playing," one student told FOX News about those bomb threats.

 

There is no connection so far between the bomb threats and Monday's shooting.

 

Student Daniel Smith was walking across field heading toward Norris Hall with his girlfriend when he heard yelling, then a police officer whisked they pair off to a patrol car to safety.

 

"We weren't quite sure but we did see police taking out people who were heavily hurt," Smith said.

 

Smith, along with other students, said it was scary enough having a gunman roaming campus on the first day of classes last year, but between that, recent bomb threats and Monday's shooting, it's almost too much to take in.

 

"I never thought it could actually happen, at a big school like this but a small community. Growing up with Columbine and 9/11, it hits you in the hurt but I've never felt this before," said Smith, an engineering student. "I'm scared to see the list [of the dead victims] when that list comes out, because I'm bound to know some students on there … it's tearing at me. I've never had a big loss before, this is terrible."

 

Virginia Tech student Blake Harrison said he was on his way to class near Norris Hall when he saw chaos.

 

"This teacher comes flying out of Norris, he's bleeding from his arm or his shoulder ... all these students were coming out of Norris trying to take shelter in Randolph [Hall]. All these kids were freaked out," Harrison said.

 

The students and faculty were barricading themselves in their classrooms after what one person described as an Asian male wearing a vest opened fire.

The shooter was "wearing a vest covered in clips was just unloading on their door, going from classroom to classroom … they said it never seemed like it was going to stop and there was just blood all over," Harrison said.

 

Matt Merone, a campus senior, was on his way to campus Monday morning when he saw a police officer grab a male student who was bleeding from his stomach area, and put him in a police vehicle, presumably en route to a hospital. Other students were seen jumping out windows to escape the gunman.

 

Student Amanda Johnson was walking between Norris and Randolph halls around 9:45 a.m. when she heard six shots fired.

 

"I've been target shooting since I was a little kid so I knew what the sounds were," said Johnson, who saw a male student jump out of a Norris Hall window to escape.

 

"It just seemed like students were trying to figure out any way to get out of that building as soon as possible," added student Mike O'Brien.

Many students didn't check their e-mail before heading to class Monday, so they didn't read the school's warnings about the first shooting. Those who did check their e-mail said they stayed put.

 

"There are police driving throughout the neighborhoods with a loudspeaker saying, 'this is an emergency, everyone stay inside, we're looking for suspicious activity," said Brittany Sammon, a senior Virginia Tech student staying at an apartment off campus. "There's no one outside at all, there's no traffic, there's nothing … everyone's doing what they said."

 

Premeditated Murder?

The FBI joined police on the scene to investigate. Agency spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no immediate evidence to suggest it was a terrorist attack, "but all avenues will be explored."

 

Senior official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told FOX News that agency's response to the Virginia Tech incident was "immediate," and the bureau is making all of its local and national resources, including its crimes lab, available to the Virginia State Police.

 

Ten ATF agents are now on the Virginia Tech campus assisting with weapons identification. They are collecting shell casings and running some preliminary tests on scene. Once the weapon has been identified, they will begin an "urgent trace" to determine its origins — where it came from, to whom it was registered, and its history of ownership. All material will be sent to the ATF's national crime lab in Maryland.

 

The ATF is also assisting with "forensic mapping" of the crime scene — a painstaking process employed by investigators that 'maps out' the scene and incident in minute detail.

 

Former Assistant FBI Director Bill Gavin said if reports that the shooter chained the doors to Norris Hall are true, that is "definite proof of premeditation," as is the number of magazines and rounds of ammunition he apparently had.

"He didn't take that just to shoot one particular person," Gavin said. "He had to have something going on there that said he was going to shoot a whole bunch of people at the same time."

 

All classes were canceled for Monday and Tuesday but campus will open at 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Faculty and staff on certain parts of campus were told to go home.

 

Families wishing to reunite with students are suggested to meet at the Inn at Virginia Tech. School officials are making plans for a convocation Tuesday at noon at Cassell Coliseum.

 

Virginia Tech has the largest full-time student population in Virginia, with more than 25,000 students. It consists of eight colleges and graduate school and offers 60 bachelor's degree programs and 140 masters and doctoral degree programs.

 

The main campus includes more than 100 buildings located on 2,600 acres, and includes an airport.

 

This is a developing story. Please refresh your page for updates.

FOX News' Ian McCaleb and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

i've heard that students were not notified of the first shooting before the second occured. Thats the schools fault... but still this guy or girl must be crazy. its so upsetting to hear of this.. VA Tech, i'm praying for you

Oh my GOD. I don't know what to say. :(

I'm like 2 hours away from VA Tech. In school we heard about it and the teachers wouldn't let us turn on the tv. The just went on like nothing happened while kids with relatives/friends that go there were bawling. That sickens me. :angry:

 

R.I.P for the 32.

Number is now 33 confirmed dead.

I was actually thinking about you, Jenika...and a couple of other boardies are from VA too.

 

The news here is still reporting only 31 dead, but every life is sacred, so it really doesn't matter. It's too many either way.

 

This is happenning more and more since Columbine. I don't get it. I've been hurt...really hurt...by people, and I've never dreamed of picking up a gun to deal with it.

 

:confused:

What gets me is that he shot up in the dorm at 7am and 2 hours later there was still classes going on. I mean, the guy was still on the loose and he struck again. Someone fucked up.

 

This is like something from a movie. Unreal.

They're saying that they thought he left after the first shooting, which is why they thought it was safer to keep the people on campus.

 

but apparently

he went into a class, shot some people and left and came back to get teh rest and some girl threw herself at the door and he couldnt get in, so he was like... shooting through the door at her trying to kill them all

 

can you even begin to imagine that?

Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This makes me upset :angry:

i just watched the morning news here. apparently the guy locked classrooms and shot through the dorr forcing people to jump out of third storey windows.

 

what a argh words just can't express it....

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3045848

I was actually thinking about you, Jenika...and a couple of other boardies are from VA too.

 

The news here is still reporting only 31 dead, but every life is sacred, so it really doesn't matter. It's too many either way.

 

This is happenning more and more since Columbine. I don't get it. I've been hurt...really hurt...by people, and I've never dreamed of picking up a gun to deal with it.

 

:confused:

 

 

Thank you for thinking of me, Tracie. :nice:

I was thinking of the other members from Virginia too. Wow, this incident really hits close to home. Really close. :confused:

What gets me is that he shot up in the dorm at 7am and 2 hours later there was still classes going on. I mean, the guy was still on the loose and he struck again. Someone fucked up.

 

This is like something from a movie. Unreal.

 

 

 

they haven't said that both shootings were by one man, but it seems likely... reguardless, there should not have been classes after the first shooting

They've said on our news that it was one guy. And he's deceased.

 

There's a video on http://www.sky.com/news off someones mobile phone where you can hear the gunshots going off in the background. It's insane...

 

 

One student said they were put on lockdown for a while and were hitting the net trying to find out what was going on, and they lifted the lockdown temporarily and the gunman struck again.

Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.

 

 

The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said.

 

 

Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/343354,vatech041607.article

 

 

He was said to have quarreled in a dormitory with his girlfriend, whom he believed had been seeing another man. A student adviser was called to sort out the fight. But the killer produced a gun and shot dead both his girlfriend and the adviser.... - dailymail.co.uk

this whole thing is just plain crazy