| Gunman kills 32, self at Virginia Tech |
|
|
| Written by Jake Melville | |
|
(U-WIRE) Washington - At least 33 people are dead and 29 more injured after a gunman opened fire Monday morning at Virginia Tech residence hall and classroom building in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, police said. According to police, the carnage started at 7:15 am when two students were shot in the west Ambler-Johnston residence hall.About two hours later, gunshots erupted at Norris hall, where most of the 32 victims were killed. The gunman’s body was also found there, an apparent suicide. Police identified the shooter as 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui, an English major from South Korea. Four of the victims have been identified as of Tuesday morning: G.V. Loganathan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and Liviu Librescu, a professor of engineering science and mechanics,Ross Alameddine, a student from Saugus, Mass.,, and Matthew La Porte, a student from Dumont, N.J.. “Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.” No motive has been given, though student Erin Sheehan, who was in a German class in Norris hall at the time said she saw the shooter looking for somebody.  “He peaked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, before he started shooting,” she told the Collegiate Times, one of Virginia Tech’s student newspapers.After hearing “something like drilling in the walls,” Sheehan and her classmates tried to barricade the door “to stop anyone from coming in.” It didn’t work. “I saw bullets” he added. The shooting brought forth immediate calls for sympathy and support from college campuses across the country. Indeed, technology played an important role as the events unfolded.CNN aired a 41 second clip shot by Virginia Tech student Jamal Albarghouti of the police approaching a stone building as several shots were fired. Photos uploaded to CNN’s Web site were posted online.  One Facebook group, called “I’m OK at VT” became a forum where students could come and ask for information about friends and loved ones.“Does anyone know the status of Mike Pohle? His parent cannot get in touch with him and are EXTREMELY concerned. Please reply! Please please please!” reads one post. Other posts gave updated information on victims, including a list of students who were still unaccounted for. Monday’s shooting was the worst mass shooting in American history.In Killeen, Texas in 1991 George Hennard shot 23 people in a cafeteria before killing himself.  The massacre brought back memories of the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colo., when students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide.The last mass shooting at a university occurred in at the University of Texas in Austin, when Charles Whitman shot 16 people with a rifle from the observation deck on the clock tower before being shot by police. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|