At least 31 dead at Virginia Tech

[stretchypanda]

wtf they're interviewing some Columbine parent "trying to get insight" into how the families of the victims of this shooting might feel, and he's basically just going off on how the authorities withhold information and try to cover things up. I can't believe CNN thought interviewing this guy would be a good idea.

Originally Posted by Nyokou

Uhm, I'm not like at home or anything watching the news, but.. are these people dying from gunshot wounds? Jesus Christ. =/

I'm still hearing 22 dead and 28 injured, so it's entirely likely that people are dying from their injuries.

[MalReynolds]

Please don't post death guestimates.

Or make jokes about it.

Bad form, Moogy.

[DrugstoreCowboy]

on ABC (in detroit) its still showing 29 dead.

[nforcer06164]

I'm watching CNN right now. Still no word on the gunman. They said, though, that in August VT shut down when an escaped jail inmate killed a couple law enforcement officials and was in the area.

OMG CNN just showed footage of some of the shooting (but it might be police?) right now. I'm hearing that there are three gunmen. There were so many shots... I'm just... I can't believe this....

[colt.45]

i just heard the gunman was asian :/

[lightdarkness]

Originally Posted by nforcer06164

I'm watching CNN right now. Still no word on the gunman. They said, though, that in August VT shut down when an escaped jail inmate killed a couple law enforcement officials and was in the area.

OMG CNN just showed footage of some of the shooting (but it might be police?) right now. I'm hearing that there are three gunmen. There were so many shots... I'm just... I can't believe this....

Those were cops buddy...

[nforcer06164]

My bad. CNN made it sound like they had footage of the shooting itself. Looking closer, I noticed it was cops. Still hearing some confusing stuff about there being more than one gunman. Reports of a gunman being dead, in custody, on the loose... nothing really clear yet.

[MalReynolds]

Originally Posted by Cnn.com

At least 21 people were killed Monday in twin shootings on the Virginia Tech campus -- the worst school shooting incident in U.S. history. "Some victims were shot in a classroom," university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said. The lone gunman is also dead, Flinchum added.

Gunman is dead. Looks like there was only one.

[nforcer06164]

There was two shootings, and at least two-hour gap between them, on opposite sides of the campus. I find it hard to believe that nobody found this gunman in that period of time. There were numerous shootings in the area, and this guy had to reload several times if he wanted to kill so many people. There's still a possibility there was more than one.

Speculation is that the guy came from off-campus, yet he knew the buildings very well, apparently.

[stretchypanda]

That video by the student is the scariest thing I have seen in my entire life.

You can just hear gunshots. Can you imagine being in that building?

[stretchypanda]

Originally Posted by nforcer06164

There was two shootings, and at least two-hour gap between them, on opposite sides of the campus. I find it hard to believe that nobody found this gunman in that period of time. There were numerous shootings in the area, and this guy had to reload several times if he wanted to kill so many people. There's still a possibility there was more than one.

Speculation is that the guy came from off-campus, yet he knew the buildings very well, apparently.

Apparently in the first shooting only one student died and two more were hurt. It still doesn't excuse the fact that he went two hours without being caught, but that's just idiocy on the part of the school and law enforcement.

I know that SMU's police department is weird about this kind of thing. When I trained for my RA job, I was told that in case of an emergency, dial 911 from a campus phone so that I would summon only SMU PD, rather than calling 911 from my own cell phone because that would summon University Parks Police, City of Dallas Police, and Dallas County Police. Call SMU PD first and THEY would decide if the real po-po needed to be called. VA Tech could have something similar, and their police department could have been trying to deal with things and keep it under wraps while the gunman was getting over to the other building.

[MalReynolds]

I'm at work and I can't keep sitting by the computer checking for updates or else I'll tear my hair out thinking about my friends.

I'll be back later.

[nforcer06164]

President Bush will speak on the shootings at 3:15 PM CDT. I doubt we'll hear anything we don't know; it's likely more a condolences speech.

[dunlop]

Originally Posted by stretchypanda

That video by the student is the scariest thing I have seen in my entire life.

You can just hear gunshots. Can you imagine being in that building?

I couldn't even imagine that. I feel so bad that anybody had to go through that.

My history prof. told the class about it. I know a few people from my high school that go there. I immediately thought of them. I really hope that they're alright. I got chills watching and reading about it when I got back to my dorm.

This is so crazy, I can't believe this happened.

[Raveren]

stretchy, your avatar's face about resembled mine when I heard about this.

[nforcer06164]

AP report just came in. 31 confirmed dead.

[sertman]

ABC news says upwards of 30 dead but it's the only source I can find that says that. Everyone else says 21.

Either way it's awful.

EDIT: CNN now says 31

[Chromer]

Heard it during my Government class. I asked our teacher to turn on CNN so we can watch it. He said, "I have to finish my lesson plan first."


Ass. I have friends who go to Virginia Tech.

[nforcer06164]

The official report just came in to CNN from AP. The official number right now is 31.

[madmatt621]

The killings mark the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, surpassing attacks at Columbine High School in 1999 and at the University of Texas in 1966.

Damn. I'm just speechless.


I just have to share this. It's just as horrifying:

Originally Posted by wikipedia.org ; Clear Lake High School, Houston, Texas

1984 Suicides
In the 1980s, the high school was perhaps best known for the six suicides that occurred in September and October of 1984. The New York Times reported that there were rumors of a suicide pact that included up to thirty students, but that this story turned out to be "a lark." Psychologists were sent to the school to deal with any residual stress that resulted from these events, though Clear Lake High School today has a higher than average suicide rate among students compared to other high schools in the country. Surprisingly, The Times reports, the suicides of the 1980s were quickly forgotten.