What a horrible tragedy. It's just makes me sick to my stomach.. how senseless.

Police: 22 Dead After Virginia Tech University Shooting

Monday , April 16, 2007
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BLACKSBURG, Va. —
At least 22 are dead after a shooting at Virginia Tech University Monday morning.


Campus police said there was only one shooter and he is now dead. They are unsure if the shooter was a student.
"Today the university was struck by a tragedy we consider of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said during a press conference shortly after noon. "I cannot begin to convey my own personal sense of loss over this senseless, incomprehensible, heinous act."
At least one person was killed at West Ambler Johnston, a residence hall, but several others were injured in that shooting. At least 20 were killed at Norris Hall, an engineering building. The dead shooter puts the death toll so far at 22.
A spokeswoman at Montgomery Regional Hospital said 17 students were being treated there for gunshot wounds, and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg reports that four people with gunshot wounds were being treated there. Carilion spokeswoman Sharon Honaker said one was in critical condition and three others were stable.
Judith Chambers, a spokeswoman at Montgomery Regional Hospital, said victims are being treated for gunshot wounds and other injuries. The conditions vary and some are in surgery, she said.
The school's Web site earlier said one shooter was in custody and officials searched for a second shooter as "part of routine police procedure," but during the press conference Monday, police said they believe there was only one shooter.
Local FOX affiliate WFXR-TV in Richmond reported that one shooting occurred between 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, and another at 10 a.m. at Norris Hall. The school's Web site confirmed the shooting at opposite ends of the 2,600-acre campus.
Police also said there is no evidence the two shootings at opposite ends of campus were related.
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 student 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 into a vehicle, which whisked him away. He told FOX News that his roommate saw the first shooting.
Police are on the scene and are investigating along with the FBI. All classes have been canceled, according to the campus newspaper, The Collegiate Times, and students and faculty have been told to stay inside. Tuesday classes have also been canceled. Faculty and staff on the Burruss Hall side of the campus drillfield are being released and asked to go home effective immediately. Faculty and staff on the War Memorial Hall side of the drillfield are asked to leave at 12:30 p.m.
The campus newspaper also reported that because of serious wind, helicopters cannot be used to transfer the injured. Ambulances are apparently being used to transport the victims to Montgomery Regional Hospital.
The university community is urged to be cautious. Anyone who observes anything suspicious or has information about this case is encouraged to contact the Virginia Tech Police at (540) 231-6411.
"There are police driving throughout the neighborhoods with a loudspeaker saying, 'This is an emergency, everyone stay inside, we're looking for suspicious activity," Brittany Sammon, a senior Virginia Tech student staying at an apartment off campus, told FOX News on Monday. "There's no one outside at all, there's no traffic, there's nothing … everyone's doing what they said."
Sammon, who has a brother and roommate confined to their buildings on campus, said she first got the e-mail from the school regarding the shooting at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
"It was just very short and brief and kind of scary, because it didn't have any details at all in it," she said. "It's definitely nerve wracking."
The West Ambler Johnston dorm, commonly known on campus as West AJ, houses about 895 students and is located near West End Market and Dietrick Dining Center.
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 master's and doctoral degree programs.
The main campus includes more than 100 buildings located on 2,600 acres, and includes an airport.
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 (javascript:siteSearch('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.
"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.
This is a developing story

Awful...

It's unfathomably tragic. It makes me fret about sending my two daughters to college, although I realize there's not much I can do about fate. I just can't imagine being a parent of one of the students there wondering if my daughter was one of the victims.

Watching the videos taken during the incident makes me ill.

They are saying the death toll is up to 32.

It's unreal how many losers won't just do the right thing and kill themselves w/o feeling the need to take others' with him...Guess they find it much easier shooting other people's kids than just offing themselves and doing us all a favor

Disgusting

When I first heard it was 1, then I clicked a little bit later and it was 22 and then I just checked again and 32 dead and 27 injured.

It's just too sad for words.. you work your whole life to give your child a college education and someone takes it all away in a senseless act of violence. I can't imagine being a parent in another state waiting to hear from a loved one .. and then never hearing from them... it's just horrific. I can't watch anymore.

from the sound of things (and the story is still developing) it's as if there are two random senseless acts of violence on the same campus on the same day. horrific to say the least.

-M

Yeah, I just don't understand how there were two attacks two hours apart, and they say there was only one shooter?

I think he went in early and then came back to finish what he started.. apparently, he killed himself.

Maybe he wanted to go down in history.. he will, for all the wrong reasons.

The deadliest shooting in all of US History.

Why couldn't he have just killed himself and not taken all those innocent people?

So a shooting happens at 7:15 am. One is dead and several injured. THE SHOOTER HAS ESCAPED. And they don't cancel class??????????????

Hearing it was a guy upset with his girlfriend..Thinking he may have went to her dorm to look for her and then found her later in class

Even then...Why take out 30 others if you are just exacting revenge on your girlfriend?...Guess it's hard to figure out what's going thru the mind of someone willing to line people up and shoot them in the back of the head

Where are you getting this info, Easy?

Guess I should have said I got that info from a college football board I'm on...So not sure how reliable that is jbrown

Probably shouldn't have posted it

I don't know if any of you do this but I do occasionally .. I think it gives the families comfort.

If you want to Sign the Guest Book and offer condolences to the families, here is the link...

It lists the all of states and it would be nice to have some condolences from Oklahoma.

Guest Book - Virginia Tech Shooting Victims (http://www.legacy.com/oklahoman/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=87298850)

Copycat killings.. do you think we will have more events in the days to come?

It makes me think with all of the media coverage it might make people think ' wow, I can be famous if I do something similar'

I'm not personally worried (well, a little bit) but I fear that more innocent lives will be lost in the next few days/months because of this.

What's the solution to prevention?

no preventing a jilted lover karried..Happens all the time, but 99.9% of them stop with the target and don't go on to mass murder...Why the campus police thought he had fled the campus after he killed his girlfriend

Only way to prevent this is to outlaw all relationships....Or to give every man a lobotomy :bright_id

The gunman in Monday’s Virginia Tech campus shootings has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a student and native of South Korea, campus police chief Wendell Flinchum said.

Here on a student visa.

I wonder how he got the weapons.

The gunman in Monday’s Virginia Tech campus shootings has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a student and native of South Korea, campus police chief Wendell Flinchum said.

Here on a student visa.

I wonder how he got the weapons.

Unfortunately, if you have the $$ it's easier to get weapons than a drivers license.

Athough this situation is tragic, horrific, and senseless, I hope it doesn't get turned into an immigration issue. I know several UCO students from Europe and Asia who are good law abiding citizens and always willing to share about thier cultures too.

Along those lines NE....Imagine the fallout if it had been a Muslim exchange student...Would have added a whole new aspect to the story

The political hotbutton this will raise will be gun control, not immigration. It's already happening. I also think there will be some major fallout over the not cancelling class after the first shooting thing. I am seeing calls to fire the Va Tech president.

I also think there will be some major fallout over the not cancelling class after the first shooting thing. I am seeing calls to fire the Va Tech president.

I agree completely on this one. How can a school tell students to come to class when circumstances surrounding an early morning murder on the campus has not been resolved. They had no idea what had happened and how crazy this kid was...many lives may have been saved with just cancelling classes in the first place. Ridiculous.

Its still very mysterious. They say they still won't link the two, and that they had someone other than Cho being questioned as a "person of interest" when the second shooting happened.

Hot of the AP wire-
The shooter was a loner with a history of anti-social behavior.
Some of his "creative writing" was so disturbing he was refered to counselling.
How many red flags does a university need?

NEW: HOT OFF THE WIRE:

I just watched the video he mailed to NBC. Hmmm, wow, that is some really good planning. It's chilling to know he killed 2 people and then strolled to a mailbox and sent it out. Or you know, the media was like, SO WHAT WAS HE DOING IN THOSE 2 HOURS?!?!? Now we know.

Crazy and irresponsible though of NBC to make the video clips available. All they are doing is turning him into a hero and a martyr for disgruntled kids with Columbine/VT-like plans. In fact, Brian Williams tonight said, "We don't want to give the impression of turning him into a martyr....(a few seconds later).....don't forget more clips tomorrow morning on Today on NBC." Pathetic. It's all about ratings.

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lol, I just watched them on the net. But yeah, why don't you put the idea in someone else's head, you know? When he said 'you made me do this,' he must have meant NBC.

I just watched the shooter's homemade video that he sent to NBC news.

This is not a matter of gun control he would have killed regardless if guns where readily available or not.

His little speech screams “I am little crybaby who spent most my college career feeling sorry for myself. I am jealous of everyone around me because they have everything I want. Due to the fact I am such crybaby and not real man I had to kill all these people. So please feel sorry for me as this your fault for not catering to me and coddling me. I hope am I hero to all the other pathetic losers like me.”

He could have been a part of the VT community but, instead he chose to be a loner. He chose to be angry at the world. He chose to kill those people. He should forever be remembered as the biggest loser in history.

My personal philosophy is "If you do not like your life, get off your ass and do something about it."

Get active. Go make new friends. Develop new interests. Do not blame other people around you for your lack of success. Never measure yourself to the success of others. Your day in the limelight will come in due time.

I say this because in America (especially if you have the privilege of attending a good college) you control your own destiny. Hard work and determination will make you a success in every aspect of life.

The biggest flaw in our system is the human factor. Too many people let little setbacks knock them down. They start feeling sorry for themselves and their dreams fall apart. All you need is strong will power and anything can happen.

I just watched the shooter's homemade video that he sent to NBC news.

This is not a matter of gun control he would have killed regardless if guns where readily available or not.

His little speech screams “I am little crybaby who spent most my college career feeling sorry for myself. I am jealous of everyone around me because they have everything I want. Due to the fact I am such crybaby and not real man I had to kill all these people. So please feel sorry for me as this your fault for not catering to me and coddling me. I hope am I hero to all the other pathetic losers like me.”

He could have been a part of the VT community but, instead he chose to be a loner. He chose to be angry at the world. He chose to kill those people. He should forever be remembered as the biggest loser in history.

My personal philosophy is "If you do not like your life, get off your ass and do something about it."

Get active. Go make new friends. Develop new interests. Do not blame other people around you for your lack of success. Never measure yourself to the success of others. Your day in the limelight will come in due time.

I say this because in America (especially if you have the privilege of attending a good college) you control your own destiny. Hard work and determination will make you a success in every aspect of life.

The biggest flaw in our system is the human factor. Too many people let little setbacks knock them down. They start feeling sorry for themselves and their dreams fall apart. All you need is strong will power and anything can happen.

Yeah DUDE, what the hell, you went to Virgina freaking Tech. I go to a community college. THat is grounds for murder in that alone. Why not graduate and become wealthy, and rub it in the peoples' faces you hate? That's my goal. Anyone else?

Yeah DUDE, what the hell, you went to Virgina freaking Tech. I go to a community college. THat is grounds for murder in that alone. Why not graduate and become wealthy, and rub it in the peoples' faces you hate? That's my goal. Anyone else?


Sounds like a great plan...I'm in!

Oh...Wait...That "graduate" part...That involves "work" doesn't it.









Damnit.

The videos are so disturbing... they are on every channel... Dirty Laundry

Is this responsible journalism? I don't know.. every channel I turn to... I see his face.. I just turned off the TV and then I go online and I see it there... it's everywhere.

Please, oh please, don't let another disturbed individual watch this and go out and kill more people.

News organizations are obligated to show all the facts. I don't see a problem with it.

News organizations are obligated to show all the facts. I don't see a problem with it.

All the evidence is not the same as all the facts. The media had pictures of JFK's bloody shirt and chose not to publish it. Columbine video has been withheld. Many graphic and disturbing things have not been shown. That doesn't mean they are not, "showing all the facts." The facts of a story and choosing to show these videos are two different things. No news organization is obligated to show disturbing video. Desensitization is a part of what leads to all of this madness.

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I have to admit, I want to see the video. I want to see the columbine video. I want to see JFK's bloody shirt. I am driven to know what really took place inside of columbine when the massacre was happening. But I know I couldn't stomach it probably. I dont know, I have watched some very disturbing things on Nothing Toxic Extreme Entertainment - NothingToxic.com (http://www.nothingtoxic.com) , like a plane crashing into a crowd and a guy was videotaping the plane when it crashed and then the guy is holding the camera and running around kinda freaking out and there is this little kid crying because his parent is dead. That's pretty intense.

Let's not kid ourselves...They are all airing it for ratings plain and simple....NBC was the only one to have it and they could have just described it w/o the graphic pics and his crazy rantings....No doubt in my mind this will have ramifications later down the line

It just proves to anyone considering going out like this that you will get you're message aired and you will be seen by millions

The NBC news prez is a joke...When asked if airing the video could be harmful and spawn copycats....His answer was Well Virginia police said airing it wouldn't hurt the investigation

Was that the answer to the question asked Crapus or whatever your name is???

A freakin joke

If it was really about ratings, NBC would never have released it to other stations.

Standard practice jbrown...They all show it as NBC exclusive and NBC aired it first

Oh, but they did release stills to the other networks - with the NBC logo prominently displayed.
I go back to the word I used in my first post: pathetic.

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Anyone that has ever worked for a corporation knows exactly why it was released

:hungry:

There was nothing wrong with what NBC did. If you didn't like it, you could turn the channel.

Anyone that has ever worked for a corporation knows exactly why it was released

:hungry:

We were talking around the office this morning and wondered why the DA and law enforcement in Blacksburg allowed NBC to air the material. It's all material evidence in a criminal investigation.

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There was nothing wrong with what NBC did. If you didn't like it, you could turn the channel.

Ahh..The old standard pug

It would work better if we were arguing whether it was offensive or not...Doesn't stick on a possibly promoting copycat mass murders down the line thread

Ahh..The old standard pug

It would work better if we were arguing whether it was offensive or not...Doesn't stick on a possibly promoting copycat mass murders down the line thread
What's interesting, Easy, is that this mass murderer was emulating something he saw in a theater, not on the evening news.

So who is to say the next one isn't a big fan of movie theaters?

We were talking around the office this morning and wondered why the DA and law enforcement in Blacksburg allowed NBC to air the material. It's all material evidence in a criminal investigation.

I don't see what they have to investigate anyway... who are they going to prosecute in a criminal investigation?
He's dead.

But, an attorney probably will be all over it..

I can see the lawsuits already. The families are probably already being contacted and most likely, in my opinion will sue the college for a) not taking steps to get him out of the school and b) for not putting the college on lockdown after the first shooting.

So who is to say the next one isn't a big fan of movie theaters?
What's your point? Can you cite specific examples of copycat mass murderers who were inspired by something the evening news reported?

NBC News was doing their job... they were reporting on an important aspect of the story -- and that is, what was going on inside this guy's head? It answers at least some of the questions of why, even if these answer still don't make much sense.

So why not just detail what was said...Wouldn't that sufficiently explain his intentions...Any need to show all his cool pics and videos of him all soldiered up Pug?

They could sum it up nicely by saying he hated rich kids and had a good amount of acne...The rest is just for the almighty dollar

If you don't like how they reported it, change the channel. I don't see anything wrong with they way the handled it or reported it.

Any kids in school pug??

May change your view if it happens again...Won't know whose side is right until it happens again...If it doesn't over the next 5 or 10 years I will come back on and apologize :tiphat:

Any kids in school pug??
Yes, I have to daughters in school.


May change your view if it happens again...
Not likely. This is not the first time there's been a mass shooting or mass murder in this country. I've yet to hear anyone cite "evening news" as the source of inspiration for any of those.

Well this is a first in some respects Pug....Getting your multimedia home movie broadcast 24 hours a day on various channels has to be pretty tempting to some twisted minds out there

Where did we get that he was copycatting some movie?

Where did we get that he was copycatting some movie?
Copycat: Killer Re-Enacted Violent Film (http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1261563,00.html)

Well this is a first in some respects Pug....Getting your multimedia home movie broadcast 24 hours a day on various channels has to be pretty tempting to some twisted minds out there
Blaming the evening news for encouraging this killer or future "copycat" killers is tantamount to the knee-jerk clarion calls to ban all guns because someone used a gun to kill someone else. It just doesn't fly.

Well this is a first in some respects Pug....Getting your multimedia home movie broadcast 24 hours a day on various channels has to be pretty tempting to some twisted minds out there

Well, exactly. It's just a whole different deal considering the advances in technology and what one person can do. A crazed individual never had the technical means available to them to send a network a complete multimedia kit. Basically, a post-mortem PR kit - and NBC has bought right into it. I'm sure it looks very appealing to sick minds who not only want to go down as an infamous mass killer, but do it and "spin it" on their own terms - knowing that the networks will broadcast all of their fancy PR material to millions of homes. This NBC decision will one day be taught in journalism school as a watershed decision.

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Well, exactly. It's just a whole different deal considering the advances in technology and what one person can do. A crazed individual never had the technical means available to them to send a network a complete multimedia kit. Basically, a post-mortem PR kit - and NBC has bought right into it. I'm sure it looks very appealing to sick minds who not only want to go down as an infamous mass killer, but do it and "spin it" on their own terms - knowing that the networks will broadcast all of your PR material to millions of homes.
He (the killer) would have gotten wider exposure had he posted it to YouTube. If we're worried about crazies spreading their perversity in a mass medium, you better shut down YouTube.


This NBC decision will one day be taught in journalism school as a watershed decision.
Hardly.

Youtube wouldn't have aired it Pug

Family members of victims canceled plans to appear on NBC's "Today" show Thursday because they "were very upset" with the network for showing the pictures, "Today" host Meredith Vieira said.

Virginia State Police Col. Steve Flaherty - who praised NBC Wednesday for coming to authorities first with the package - said Thursday he was disappointed with what the network showed.

"I just hate that a lot of people not used to seeing that type of image had to see it," he said.

Virginia State Police Col. Steve Flaherty - who praised NBC Wednesday for coming to authorities first with the package - said Thursday he was disappointed with what the network showed.

"I just hate that a lot of people not used to seeing that type of image had to see it," he said.

Which goes back to what my colleagues and I were talking about this morning. I posted earlier in this thread that I am baffled as to why it wasn't all impounded as material evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation.

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Youtube wouldn't have aired it Pug
Maybe, maybe not. But I guarantee had he posted it to the Internet, it would be widely distributed and played by now.



"I just hate that a lot of people not used to seeing that type of image had to see it," he said.
I'm still puzzled that all these people are unable to watch anything but NBC and thus be coerced into watching something they didn't want to watch. I mean, come on people! There are hundreds of channels out there. If you don't like what's on one of them, turn the damn channel!

Which goes back to what my colleagues and I were talking about this morning. I posted earlier in this thread that I am baffled as to why it wasn't all impounded as material evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation.

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Why do they need to impound something that NBC willingly turned over to them? They happened to make copies of everything and willingly turned them over to the FBI. How has NBC impeded "an ongoing criminal investigation"?

It was sent only to NBC so the blame is solely on them imo...Chose money over common decency and sense

Wonder if their sagging network ratings came into play in that conference room?