Shooting At Virginia Tech-33 Dead!
 

Shooting at Virginia Tech this morning 21 dead!
Sad times we live in.
Can hear gunshots as they report over the radio.

12 Dead, 22 injured.

Shooter is killed as well.

Ron,

This is a tragedy. Can you imagine being a parent with a child there waiting for a phone call to know if your child is alive or dead.

(BTW- You need to go to advanced editing and correct your spelling of "shooting" in the title to this thread)

No I couldn't imagine.
It must be heartbreaking.

Gunman kills 21 on Virginia Tech campus By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago



A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. The gunman was killed but it was unclear if he was shot by police or took his own life.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said Virginia Tech 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. 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.

The name of the gunman was not released.

Up until Monday, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the 28th-floor observation deck of a clock tower and opened fire. He killed 16 people before he was gunned down by police. In the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo., in 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

On Monday, one student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum.

After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed and classes canceled through Tuesday.

"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 where shooting took place.

Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, 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, "We are all in lockdown. 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.

Fox News is reporting that ABC news is reporting on their website that the count is now up to 25 dead and may rise.

Of course in the early stages of a tragedy like this there is a lot of misreporting.

I just heard that the killer was looking for his girlfriend and lined people up before shooting them. Sounds like a nut and not a terrorist act.

Now they are saying 32 dead and 15 wounded. I hope they are wrong and it is not this bad.

UP till now the worst college massacre was in Austin in the early 1960's when Whitman shot and killed 16 people (triva - I played a shot student in the 1975 TV movie about this)

ABC News is now saying 29 dead. This is horrible!!

http://abcnews.go.com/

My God have mercy!!!!

Death toll keeps going up. CBS News is confirming it a 30.

http://www.cbsnews.com/

It is Terrible!
Young lives taken away for nothing.
Many lives are affected and more will be.

Does anyone know that Columbine's anniversary was this week?
Does anyone also know the signifacance of April 20 th? (Hitlers B/day)

Our local radio broke into regular programming and has been covering it this morning.

We are not immune in Canada. We have had a few shootings at schools.

It makes me sick to my stomach. I just want to cry. My daughter is in college in east Tennessee and that was the first thing I thought of. Like some of the other sentiments that have been expressed, I can't imagine as a parent, waiting to find out if my child was okay.

So, how many other people have been shot so far today?

What do you mean? Nationwide? I don't understand what you mean.

Whether in Virginia, nationwide, or worldwide.

Think Luke 13:1-3.

Chancellor, you have a point.
On another note-you obviously ain't a parent.
As a parent my heart goes out these people who lost thier children.
I am just as saddened over the one body that was found in a car by Steadfasts
son.

Don't we all at one time or another? :)
Ah, but I am.
But not just the children at VA Tech.

Chancellor, there are people dying every day. I open up the Obituaries in our local paper and it is loaded with people every day that go into Eternity.
My heart is grieved.

However, the grand scale of this violent act grabs our attention and causes us to ask, why?

Why another shooting?
As a parent have we remembered to hug our children today? Our loved ones?

And yes it does drive home the point of our mortality.

I see no point in minimizing this event. It is the worst mass killing at a College or University in the history of our country.

There has alway been killing since the beginning of time. However there are events that distinguish themselves because of the circumstances, numbers of people killed, etc and this is one of them.

Chan, was the events of 9-11 just another day of killing?

(CBS/AP) A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 31 people in the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, a Justice Department official told CBS News.

The FBI and the ATF believe the gunman, described as a young Asian male, used two handguns in the shootings before taking his own life, sources tell CBS News.

At least 20 others were injured in the shootings, police said.

This would make at least 51 shot. That would take a lot of reloading wouldn't it?

With semi automatics not too many reloads. However I was speaking to my son and we both agreed that if the reports are true he had the students line up and then shot them if I had been #'s 5-20 in that line I would have rushed him to disarm him. Of course it is too early to know what actually happened.
I understand some students jumped out windows to avoid being shot so they may be able to give a better picture as to what happened along with the forensics guys who will examine the trail of shell casings, etc.

I have a preacher friend who is a professor there?

That was what I was thinking.

It would seem he felt he was on a mission.
I can not imagine that plain hatred or vengence could be sustained when your victims probably have no direct connection to you.

lets just chalk this up to another day in America...critize others for discussing this one event and not the countless others NOT in the headlines....

but get our dander up over 2 little kids doing what kids do, and a father who is just being a dad...


that logic my friend, doesnt make a lick of sense to me....

*shakes head*

Now reported 31 dead-

http://www.wsls.com/servlet/Satellit...=1173350761291

There was a Canadian Student there who reported seeing Police Officers running around campus yelling at students to run as fast as they can to a nearby building and get inside and stay away from windows and lock their doors.

Since no one here has criticized anyone for discussing this event, your post makes no sense.

another article--

~~~~

Multiple Fatalities in Va. Tech Shooting
April 16, 2007 - 2:50pm

By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer
BLACKSBURG, Va. - A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, in a classroom across campus Monday, killing at least 30 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, government officials told The Associated Press. The gunman was killed, bringing to death toll to 31.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."

It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was shot by police or took his own life. His name was not released, investigators offered no motive for the attack. It was not known if the gunman was a student.

The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus, with witnesses reporting students jumping out the windows of a classroom building to escape the gunfire. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive.

The massacre took place at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a coed dormitory that houses 895 people, and continuing at least two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building about a half-mile away, authorities said.

Police said they were still investigating the shooting at the dorm when they got word of gunfire at the classroom building.

After the first shots were fired, students were warned to stay indoors and away from the windows. But some students said they thought the precautions had been lifted by the time the second burst of gunfire was heard, and some bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time, two hours after the bloodshed began.

"What happened today this was ridiculous. And I don't know what happened or what was going through this guy's mind," student Jason Piatt told CNN. "But I'm pretty outraged and I'll say on the record I'm pretty outraged that someone died in a shooting in a dorm at 7 o'clock in the morning and the first e-mail about it - no mention of locking down campus, no mention of canceling classes - they just mention that they're investigating a shooting two hours later at 9:22."

He added: "That's pretty ridiculous and meanwhile, while they're sending out that e-mail, 22 more people got killed."

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no evidence to suggest it was a terrorist attack, "but all avenues will be explored."

Up until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard drove his pickup into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.



http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1116589

I think these are the posts that Theresa was referring to. You're right, there was no direct criticism. But it sounded a bit implied (in my opinion). Perhaps Theresa was 'reading you wrong', but if so, then so did I. And I wonder how many others?

It appeared that you were minimalizing this event with your original post.

BTW, the death toll is up to 32 and is now the worst mass killing in US history.

It's a very sad day.

Agreed on all counts...:(

Is it the number of people involved that grabs our attention? Why did the media feel it important to report THIS event and not the other shootings that have occurred today? Are the lives of Virginia Tech students somehow more worthy of our attention than those of kids in East Los Angeles or in Detroit or in some other large American city where shootings are commonplace?

The mentality so many of us seem to have is the same as the one expressed by Jesus' disciples when they told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the sacrifices.

It doesn't matter who it is that died, I think you and I would agree that the death is "tragic" - and more so if the person who died had never obeyed the gospel call.

thanks y'all - I'd decided not to even respond to his "observation"

sometimes he's just misunderstood and it takes pages and pages of nasty posts before someone realizes that he just spouted off and it was intrepreted by EVERYONE that read it, totally different than he meant it...I thought no response was better than starting some war of words.

and since others felt the same way by their reply, I just left my original comment and his little response....

no one said to the contrary....

sheesh - sometimes....

oh, nevermind:ignore

Chan, common sense dictates that the media cannot report every shooting or death that takes place in a day.

The sheer magnitude and senselessness of this event makes it noteworthy.

Oh please........................you got to stay out of that lake effect snow!!

Ah, yes, the appearance argument proving once again that sooooo many people don't actually read what's written but, instead, read things into what is written.

My question was: "So, how many other people have been shot so far today?"

I later clarified this by suggesting to one poster to think in terms of Luke 13:1-3. Did Jesus minimalize the death of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with the sacrifices? Did He minimalize the death of those on whom the tower at Siloam fell? I don't think He did but He did correct the disciples' thinking that the deaths in question were somehow more tragic than other deaths.