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When Will the Shooting Stop on Campus?

33 dead in Virginia Tech shootings

弗吉尼亚理工大学血案

In the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, at least 33 people were killed in two separate attacks Monday at Virginia Tech, with 33―including the suspected gunman―dying in one campus building, police and university officials said.

Two people were killed in the first shooting at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a coed dorm at the university in southwestern Virginia. Police said 31 people, including the suspected gunman, died in the second attack more than two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building. The suspected gunman killed himself, police said.

At least 15 people were injured in the shootings.

Police were cautious about linking the two shootings pending further investigation. They said only that a male gunman was involved in the second shootings, but that he carried no identification papers.

Derek O’Dell, 20, a biology major from Roanoke, said the gunman entered his classroom at Norris Hall, opened fire with a handgun, then calmly reloaded and fired another eight or 10 rounds.

O’Dell said he was injured in the upper arm during the melee. Montgomery Regional Hospital confirmed that O’Dell was listed among those treated for injuries.

O’Dell said he was in a German class with about 15 other students and a professor at about 9:30 a.m. when the gunman burst into the room. He said everyone dived for cover. About 12 people in the room were shot, he said.

After the gunman left, O’Dell said, he and others barricaded the door. They continued to hear shots echoing down the corridor. At one point, O’Dell said, the gunman returned to the door and fired at it, but did not get through again.

“It was all crazy,” O’Dell said. “I didn’t think it was real. It was like a dream or something. You’re scared for your life, but I didn’t realize I’d been shot until afterward.”

The gunman, O’Dell said, never said a word. “It just seemed totally random,” he said.

It was the second time this academic year that violence had struck the 25,000-student university. Last August, 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 alleged gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, about 160 miles west of Richmond. It is best-known for its engineering school and its powerhouse football team and has the state’s largest full-time student population.

President Bush offered his condolences in a brief, televised address. “We hold the victims in our hearts, we lift them up in our prayers and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today,” Bush said. He pledged the assistance of the federal government in the investigation.

“It is difficult to comprehend senseless violence on this scale,” Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said in a statement. “Our prayers are with the families and friends of these victims and members of the extended Virginia Tech community.” He was returning from a trip to Tokyo today to attend a memorial service for the victims.

On 16th, April, students complained that there were no public-address announcements or other warnings on campus after the first burst of gunfire. They said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours after the dorm shootings―near the time of the second attack.

According to several students, the university first alerted them by e-mail at 9:26 a.m. about a “shooting incident” at the dorm. The e-mail said police were investigating the report.

At 9:50 a.m., after the second shootings had begun, the university sent out a second, more explicit warning:

“A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows.”

As the eerie scene unfolded, heavily armed police, wearing helmets and black flak jackets, sprinted around campus against a backdrop of budding trees while an unseasonable snow shower fluttered around them.

Witnesses reported students jumping out windows of a classroom building to escape the gunfire. SWAT team members swarmed over the campus. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances.

President Bush said Monday that the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the deadliest campus violence ever in this country, affects every student across the nation.

“Schools should be places of safety, sanctuary and learning,” Bush said in reaction to the deaths of more than 30 people on the campus. “When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom in every American community.”

Bush spoke with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Virginia Tech President Charles Steger.

“I told them that Laura and I and many across our nation are praying for the victims and all the members of university community that have been devastated by this terrible tragedy,” Bush said in the Diplomatic Room of the White House.

“Today our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech,” he said. “We hold the victims in our hearts. We lift them up in our prayers and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today.”

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were already on the campus, aiding local authorities in the investigation.

“We are committed to providing support and assistance to those authorities as well as to the victims of this crime for

as long as necessary,” Gonzales said in a statement issued by the Justice Department.

“I am deeply saddened and angered by these senseless acts of violence,” Gonzales said. “My deepest condolences and prayers go out to those affected by this horrific crime, especially those who lost loved ones.”

In the House, which returned on April 16 from a two-week recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., interrupted the proceedings to lead a moment of silence in remembrance.

“As the Virginia Tech community struggles with the mourning and questioning that is certain to follow, the continued prayers from this Congress are with the students, their families, the faculty and the staff at Virginia Tech,” Pelosi said.

The shooting at Virginia Tech may cause prospective college students to re-evaluate a university associated with such a tragedy.

But college admissions advisers also say large public universities such as Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., tend to weather such recruiting challenges better than smaller, private colleges heavily dependent on tuition.

Some students say they wouldn’t expect other prospective freshmen to shun the school because many of today’s students are familiar with violence, such as the Columbine High School shooting.

Some say the tragedy will affect enrollment.

“The magnitude of this is so huge. It unfortunately shifts enrollment to schools in small, private, non-urban areas,” says David Hawsey, vice president for enrollment at Albion College in Albion, Mich.

“We will have parents calling and asking more questions about safety. It should not reflect on the academic and curriculum of the university. They need our support.”

Students who have been through the college selection process say they don’t think this will hurt Virginia Tech’s enrollment.

Another potential fallout: Parents, who often influence their children’s educational decisions, may have more worries.

“It might make a difference to parents, and parents in the short term may have more interest in safety practices,” says Renee Goldberg, director of Newton, Mass.-based Educational Options, a consultancy that helps students with college and high school placement. “Some parents will want to keep their children closer. There’s more anxiety today.”

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