Originally Posted by New York Times

April 16, 2007
At Least 21 Killed in Shooting at Virginia Tech
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:36 p.m. ET

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people and wounding another 21 before he was killed, police said.

"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. 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.

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.

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl (Post 500820)

They're calling this the worst school shooting in history!! The other bad school shooting was the massacre in Texas in 1966 (I saw the movie of that one a couple years ago).

There werer actually 2 seperate shootings but with the same gunman. 1 at 7:15 at one building and another 2 hours later at another building. Man the footage on CNN by the student is scary!

Originally Posted by Cure4AIDS (Post 500832)

Wait, wait. In the beginning it said he killed 21 people and injured 21 more before HE WAS KILLED. Then at the end, it says he faces capital murder charges. So is he dead? Or are they talking about the shooting in '06?

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl (Post 500820)

There werer actually 2 seperate shootings but with the same gunman. 1 at 7:15 at one building and another 2 hours later at another building. Man the footage on CNN by the student is scary!

Originally Posted by Jo Dawn (Post 500838)

Yes. Though they are 'unsure' if the police killed him, or if he took his own life.

Originally Posted by METALHEAD (Post 500899)

Edited out. -VOLTRON

Originally Posted by METALHEAD (Post 500899)

Edited out. -VOLTRON

Originally Posted by jeff the cheff (Post 500904)

You're a ****ing idiot. I'm suprised you've lasted 86 posts here...

What I don't understand...Why did they not cancel class? The first shooting was at about 7 am, and the next shooting was later that day. I would not go to class if I knew there was a shooting on campus, and I think the campus should've gone on lockdown earlier.

Originally Posted by METALHEAD (Post 500899)

Edited out. -VOLTRON

Originally Posted by Ai (Post 500912)

School is a stressful place, and it is also where a lot of juvenile interaction takes place. It's also where a lot of fights happen. Eventually, they turn to extreme violence. That's my theory.

Originally Posted by jeff the cheff (Post 500904)

What I don't understand...Why did they not cancel class? The first shooting was at about 7 am, and the next shooting was later that day. I would not go to class if I knew there was a shooting on campus, and I think the campus should've gone on lockdown earlier.

Originally Posted by Jester (Post 500917)

Is it really 21? Is that confirmed? Because I just saw another news sourse that was as high as 31...I hope they're both wrong...and the toll is far less.

Originally Posted by Swany (Post 500916)

I dont think so, there was the dunblane massacre where a man just walked into a primary school and opened fire on the kids and teachers. Then shot himself.

Originally Posted by Fledermaus (Post 500926)

I agree, enough with the racism. It doesn't matter who did it or whether they are affiliated with some secret organization. This is "terrorism."

Yeah so tell me the gunman was a troubled, poor young man. Tell me he wanted to make a noble statement about the state of our wretched society. How he wanted to point out the hypocrisy, rebel against the disenfranchisement, punish the decadent pigs, or those who didn't agree with him fully or who represented the lethal threat in his mind. I have all sorts of reasons to be angry. But there are other ways to get that across that don't involve robbing people of their lives, their friends, sons and daughters... Especially in our country. So many people scoff at the idea of freedom of speech in America -- it may not be perfect, our country may do a LOT of things wrong, but we still have a lot more opportunity than most of the world to gather and to express ourselves.

This guy knew what he was doing to target certain buildings, wait, and then as soon as the guard lets down, he targets another. He LOCKS THE DOORS. This is oppression. (And here we are trying to rid it from other corners of the world.:roll: ) These monsters are trying to destroy our foundations by scaring us into submission. Telling us we haven't the right to walk around or even stay in our rooms without getting our heads blown off. Can't do this or can't do that, have to live under their thumb until their every whim is met. How do you deal with these people without turning our country into a concentration camp with security cameras monitoring our every move?

I'm actually ticked that the murderer is dead -- now there are some things we'll never know about him.

And all those people... those are human lives. Young people with their whole lives ahead of them. Dreams. :(