Tragedy unfolds at Virginia Tech
By Brooke Masters
Updated: 4:12 p.m. PT April 16, 2007
For many of Virginia Tech's 26,000 students, the first inkling they got that something was wrong was a bland e-mail sent to all students shortly after 9am. "A shooting incident occurred at 7:15 am in West Ambler Johnston Hall … The university community is asked to be cautious and asked to contact police with any information."
Little is known about the first incident, in which two people were killed in a student dormitory. But authorities described it as "domestic in nature" and students said they had been told it stemmed from an argument between a boyfriend and girlfriend.
Most buildings on the bucolic campus are open to the public, but West A-J, like all dormitories, has higher security and visitors must either have a student identity card or be admitted by a resident. As police scrambled to investigate the first incident, campus authorities decided not to shut down classes.
"We had some reason to suspect the shooter had left the campus and might be leaving the state," said Charles Steger, university president. Some students were warned to stay indoors and away from windows after the first incident; many didn't get the message and went to class as usual. Some walked into a massacre.
Trey Perkins and Derek O'Dell told MSNBC they were attending a German class at Norris Hall, an engineering classroom building more than half a mile from the first shooting site. Around 9:40am, they heard some loud pops in the hallway. A young Asian man wearing a maroon hat and a black leather jacket burst through the door and opened fire.
"A guy comes into the room, he shot our teacher, we all got on the ground real quick and he started shooting at different people. It seemed like a really long time," Mr Perkins said. "He didn't say a single word the entire time. He didn't say get down. He just came in and started shooting."
Students threw desks between themselves and the gunman, to no avail. Mr O'Dell, who was treated for a gunshot to the upper arm, estimated that 10 or more people were hit by bullets in his classroom alone.
The gunman left the room and then tried to return, but the occupants braced themselves against the door, the students said. He fired several more shots before leaving. Out in the hallway on the second floor, Gene Cole, who has worked in housekeeping for Virginia Tech's housekeeping services for more than two decades, saw a person lying on the floor.
As Mr Cole approached, a man wearing a hat and holding a black gun stepped into the hallway. "Someone stepped out of a classroom and started shooting at me," Mr Cole told the Roanoke Times. He fled down the corridor, then down a flight of steps to safety. "All I saw was blood in the hallways," he said.
Thirty-one people, including the gunman, were killed at Norris Hall, bringing the total death toll to 33. Fifteen more were being treated at area hospitals. The suspect was reportedly carrying two handguns including at least one 9mm handgun equipped with several clips holding 15 bullets apiece. He carried no identification and has not been identified, police said.
at how many people died at the hands of this gunperson.
