A gunman walked into a dorm at Virginia Tech University early this morning, lined students against a wall and started shooting.
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.”
Steger said school officials are notifying victims’ next if kin, and state police and the FBI are still investigating the various crime scenes. They are still trying to identify all the victims. The university will set up counseling centers for students and faculty.
Apparently, the shooter went one dorm and then another. There are multiple stories swirling around and people trying to answer questions when no one has any real information. So rumors are all over the place.
The story is unfolding …..
“We’re all locked in our dorms surfing the Internet trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Aimee Kanode
Virginia Tech freshman
UPDATE - 1:36 p.m. ET: Reports that there are now 25 fatalities and the number is expected to rise.
UPDATE - 1:39 p.m. ET: The news is now reporting that there are 29 fatalities.
UPDATE - 1:41 p.m. ET: 32 people are confirmed dead. 28 are being treated for critical injuries.
UPDATE - 1:51 p.m. ET: Reports are that there was a two hour lapse between two sets of shootings.
UPDATE - 2:00 p.m. ET: Federal authorities confirm this to be the worst shooting in American history.
From Washinton Post
The worst mass slaying in U.S. history occurred Oct. 16, 1991, at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. George Hennard rammed his truck into the cafeteria and opened fire on the lunchtime crowd, killing 22 people before turning his gun on himself and taking his own life.
UPDATE - 4:00 p.m. ET: President Bush is speaking in reaction to this horrific tragedy. The nation mourns.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler explains how a ‘gun-free’ campus could have something like this happen. Gun Control Laws Claim Another 21 32 Victims. Common sense, really! My children went to school with guns and know how to defend themselves.
UPDATE - 7:00 p.m. ET: The gunman has not yet been identified. His fingerprints don’t match any on record, which means he did not obtain the guns legally. He did not have any identification on him and he shot himself in the face so that he is not recognizable. He is only identified as ‘Asian’.
UPDATE - 8:00 p.m. ET: Gunman is identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa. No other information on his identity at this time.
On going updates at:High Desert Wanderer, A Blog for All, Hot Air, The Sandbox, Wizbang, Captain’s Quarters,
April 18th, 2007 at 4:28 am
Coincidentally, April 16 was the day of Kristalnacht in Germany when the Holocaust began.
IMHO there are 33 martyrs here. Seung-Hui Cho is a victim too, belive it or not. It’s amazing no one noticed that he may have been showing symptoms of hikikomori probably since his early teens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
However, the closest in DSM-IV manual is avoidant behavior disorder.
Another good source on this topic is Michael Zielenziger’s Shutting Out the Sun.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
The recent firing rampage is indeed really shocking. I think this shooting incident is both horrifying, yet enlightening. It is horrifying as the gunman had taken the lives of thirty-odd innocent individuals. But why enlightening, some people may question. I personally feel that it is enlightening as this incident brings about the urgent need to review fun control laws in USA. I feel that stricter and greater controls should be imposed on gun usage, so as to safeguard the lives of the people in the United States of America.
April 21st, 2007 at 4:49 am
The United States of America and our FREEDOMS are defended by our U.S. Armed Forces and WE THE PEOPLE -
U.S. Constitution Amendment II states (1791) “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” God blesses the USA and Israel and we will ‘lock and load’ in order to protect our nations and preserve our freedoms against ALL enemies foreign and domestic, including the wacko Islamomaniacs! We don’t give a rat’s behind what the world thinks of us - period.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:22 am
[...] Multiple Fatalities in Virginia Tech University Shootings More Political [...]
October 11th, 2009 at 4:49 am
[...] fact that there are numerous examples of places at which gun control has increased crime and examples of places at which the Second Amendment is upheld has almost no crime doesn’t [...]