Virginia Tech Shootings
Officials now say there are total of 33 dead following Monday's shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech. Authorities say that number includes the gunman, who killed himself. It's the single deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger says two of the deaths were in a coed dormitory called West Ambler Johnston. The other 31 dead, including the suspect, were found in Norris Hall, an engineering building about a half-mile away.More
posted by Joshua Auzenne at 3:15 PM
17 Comments:
All of my sympathy goes out to the victims, their families, and the whole college student body, and staff. It's a shame that so many people were killed and injured in this muderous rampage. This only proves that there is really no safe place to be. There should have been perimeters of security set up if the suspect had not been caught. Again my heart goes out to everyone.
Shandrekia T.
It's a shame that you now have to worry about what might happen when you're in class. Things like this shouldn't happen. It's just not the way things should be. It worries me to think about all of this violence -- and the violence we've been hearing about in Baton Rouge.
I don't think the university should be blamed for what happened. They did what they thought was right. It turns out they were wrong, but what happened was something that probably couldn't be prevented.
What should be answered is how the lack of communication with students can be fixed. I just watched the extended CBS Evening News and saw where text messages can be sent to students. This is something that should be explored. E-mails work, but students need a better way to know about incidents such as those at VT when they are happening.
This is something 9News should explore - A sort of "what if" story. "What If" this happened at LSU? How would the campus react, how would things be handled?
It's these incidents that bring up questions that should be answered.
Our Hearts and Sympathy goes out to the whole community of Virginia for the Horriable Tradey they faced today in their state today. It is a shame that now you have to worry that there is not a safe place to be these days. Our Prayers are with yall!!!
why are we so supprised at all these terrible things that happen.When all we have on most video games and tv are full of violence ,when even our little ones watch this. We are taken our Saviour out of everything they want to take His name off our money,remove the ten commandents and we cant pray in school .God has protected us for so many years and they want to remove His proctection from us
FRANCES
I realize the tragedy of unsuspecting students being killed for no reason, however I am suprised at the quick response of the media and George W. etc.
I'd like to know how many unsuspecting citizens need to be killed for no reason in New Orleans to warrant such a swift response?
I am a Ph.D. student here at LSU now, and I earned a B.A. and M.A. at VT over the past 6 years in Blacksburg, VA. I lost a good friend today in the violence, and I pray that I will learn of no more tomorrow. I also wish to extend my condolences to all affected.
I am so impressed with the community support, but I was not impressed with the personal interest piece tonight on WAFB9 that interviewed an intern who thinks she made a "life saving" decision by coming to LSU instead of VT.
VT is a campus that I can still endorse today as a place where you can enjoy yourself and earn a worthwhile education. Unfortunately, in one heinous act, the place is slandered as dangerous. If I could have earned a Ph.D. there, I might have stayed. That isn't to say I don't love it here, that's just to say it is like home to me. Baton Rouge is finding a place in my heart, too.
I question the competence of the administration at VT, and I was particularly offended by the press conference at 4:00 PM where President Steger was almost self-congratulatory in explaining how "well" his emergency communication plan worked.
Howso? Is the cutoff for catastrophic 35 deaths? Is it 350? There is no pride to be had in investigators making the grevious error of assuming the killer would not linger or lash out elsewhere on VT's campus. There is certainly no pride in leaving kids and faculty in classrooms during an extreme case of crisis like this one to be led to slaughter.
Blacksburg is an amazing town, I know some feel safer here tonight, but could LSU handle this better?
I am depressed that my alma mater is seen and known as an "at-risk" place, but I am angry that people might suggest that VT couldn't have done it better. If we demand better at our schools, VT, LSU, SU, or otherwise, perhaps we will never have another day like this.
When my daughter entered LSU as a freshmen last fall, I talked to her about what to do if a situation, such as the one that occured at VA Tech, were to happen. I told her to be aware of the exits around her as she sat down in each class. I told her to think about what she might do if a shooting situation were to happen and the closest exit was not accessable. I told her to always keep her cell phone in a pocket, if possible, and leave everything else behind if she had to run from the building. Otherwise she should grab her back pack and use it for protection.
It's sad that we have to give 'combat training' to our college students. I have a son who has served in Iraq but I worry almost as much for the saftey of my children in college.
Lastly, I agree with others who are saying that universities need to stay current with the best way to send out alerts to students in 'real time'. Emails are "old world" for today's college students. Everyone and their pet duck can be reached by text messaging. It's the fastest and most effective way to get information out to a large group. Also, students need to know ahead of time what to do when they receive that kind of message. It ought to be part of freshmen orientation. A sad but necessary part of our world today.
My heart-felt sympathy to the students and their families involved in today's horrific tragedy at VA Tech...
My heart goes out to the families and victims of this very tragic event. However, the media feeding frenzy has gotten way out of control!! Yes it is important to report on the events, but report the FACTS...not rumors and second hand information.
The police and the authorities are over whelmed by the magnitude of this event and do not need the media speculation and the media generated rumors to be circulated and spread as if it was the truth!! Please let the local, state and federal authorities complete their investigations. These things usually take time to sort through and we must be patient! I do not want another rush to judgement nor should this be played out and "investigated" by the media. The media has a responsibility to report the FACTS...and not report the rumors and off record, out of context quotes from "sources close to the investigation!" This only hampers the investigation and muddies up the waters!
Right now the most important thing is to support the families and those most affected by this and to morn for the terrible waste of life that has occurred today. Let us take the time to properly morn the loss of these young lives and professors who were so violently taken from us. Let us come to know these people and how very ordinary they truly were. Let us focus on comforting the families and friends of these people and clothe them with our love and let us show our respect for their loss!! Let us respect their privacy as well if they so desire. I so saddened by this horrific event, lets finish the greiving process first then clear our minds before we begin pointing fingers. Things done and said in a grieving anger is a natural reaction to the horror of today events and we should really take some of these comments and truly put them aside. Let us all take the time to morn this tragic loss and bury our loved ones so that the grieving process can take its natural course.
Let us all simply take a deep breathe and hold our comments and speculation until the authorities have had enough time to piece things together so that they can provide an informed and intelligent statement of the facts about their findings regarding these tragic events. The media must be patient, respectfull and sensitive to the victims of this sad and tragic event as well!
So lets show our love and support for the families of those lost in this tragedy. And to those in the media, please report the facts...not the rumors. We all want to know what happened, but I would prefer to here the facts and nothing but the facts! And then maybe we can begin to look intelligently at the solutions and lessons to be learned from all of this and apply them!!!!
With a heavy heart...Bill
I am so sadden about this entire event. There is never any reason for another human being to take another human beings life. My prayers go out to the entire Virginia Tech Foundation family. I pray that God shields the hearts and souls of the families that has lost a love one. I am a mother of htree and I cannot ever imagine loseing any of my children to a natural cause and especially to a MADMAN taking their life in the manner that theses students lost their life. I will continue to PRAY for the FAmiles of Virginia Tech and also PRAY stronger and harder for our LOST WORLD that we live in today.My heart feels the sorrow and my eyes holds the tears of all of the lost souls we have lost in this SAD EVENT. May God Bless You ALways,
CA Baker, LA
As a parent, I am heartbroken and horrified. My sympathy goes out to all of the families that have been traumatized by this horrible act.
As I watched the news last night and today, I keep coming back to the same conclusion and its that we need to allow religion back into the classrooms. I am not trying to preach or shovel religion down anyones throat but we didnt have hellish acts like this when we said the Pledge of Allegance and a pray in the mornings before class began. I graduated in 1989 and I don't ever remember such horrible acts of cowardness taking place during all my years in school but we learned courtesy, patients, respect and right from wrong. I am raising my son with the values that I was raised with and I pray that he will uphold the standards that he is being taught. And we also pray that we never treat anyone with disrespect or degrade them.
We as members of the human race descriminate against each other, we learn to hate and to judge when we need to be proud to be an AMERICAN and thank God that we are given another beautiful day in our lives! We need to stand tall and love thy neighbor regardless of the color of their skin or their religion.
The sorrow is weighing heavily on my heart and I ask that you hug your children, parents, siblings, etc and tell them just how much they mean to you because tomorrow is a mystery.
Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.
May God bless you and yours,
Mom of a high school freshman
first I would like to say that I pray for the families that lost loved ones and friends in this massacre on yesterday morning.God Bless all of you in Virginia and keep your head up.I can't say how you feel because I don't I could only imagine.Again God Bless all of you.
My heart goes out to the students, faculty and families touched by this tragedy at Virginia Tech. Thinking about what can be done at colleges around the country, the answer is quite simple. ANY reports of gunfire should be cause for lock down, instead of just using text messaging to student cellphones and PDAs, look into a system-wide alert system, such as an alert that goes out to classes and dorms. Even if such things could cause tuition costs to go up, it would be well worth it to start ensuring the safety of our future of our country.
Like everyone else I am very sad for the families that lost loved ones in Blacksburg. Losing someone you love in this way is horrible. The families and friends had no chance to say goodbye or say things they had wanted to say and now never can. But I have to say I am not shocked that this has happened. Just turn on the local news and see how many people are getting shot in New Orleans and here in Baton Rouge too. New Orleans has had about twice that number of murders this year as happened at VT. Are the families of those victims any less distraught? Are those lives less worthy because they didn't happen on the same day? No. I am just as upset about those as I am about yesterday's tragedy.
And I am not going to blame it on "these days" as if we lived in a more violent time than any other. This just happens to be a time with 24 hour news networks a satellite TV. Pick up a history book and you'll see that there have always been horrible violence in the world. That's just the way it works. There's good things and bad things. A bad thing can come after you the same as anyone else. The news channels always ask "could this happen to you". The answer is yes. You've got to understand that, accept it and be prepared. Hoping nothing bad happens isn't going to protect you.
And that's what really upsets me. The policies at VT ensured that no one could protect themselves against this. Even students and faculty who are legally licensed to carry firearms were prohibited from doing so. Virginia had a bill ready to go that would have prevented VT from having a no firearms policy but it was allowed to wither on the vine without even a vote.
www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658
Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have them isn't just a cute little phrase that "gun nuts" say. You can't prevent someone from doing what they want if they are willing to break the law. Just look at the drug laws. Does passing drug laws stop people from doing drugs? Of course not. As Chris Rock says, "People want to get high". And so they do. If someone wants to take a gun and murder innocents they will. No law is going to stop a lawbreaker. That's why they're called lawbreakers. But how far they are able to take the rampage depends on the ability or inability to stop them. If just one person in those classrooms had a gun, say an ROTC student trained in firearms, there would have been very few victims as compared to what there is now.
But instead of passing laws that will keep people from becoming victims there will be special interest groups and politicians passing new "gun control" laws on the backs of these victims' families. "I'm sorry for the loss of your son Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Now come stand next to me as I sign this bill to the applause of my press conference." Disgusting. If they really wanted to prevent victims they'd pass laws to protect citizens right to defend themselves. But when the general public believes more gun laws is going to stop violence that's not what we're going to get. At least we live in Louisiana where most people have sense about these things.
As I write this I'm watching some of the news coverage. You can see they so want the guns used to be illegal, some background check that wasn't done, for some sign that this was going to happen and it should have been caught. But it's obvious that nothing could have prevented that murderer from walking onto campus and opening fire. No background check or waiting period or law we pass can prevent people from killing. And no, I am not a "gun nut". I don't like guns anymore than I like the airbags in my car. But in the event of a tragedy each could save my life and that of my family. That's why I wouldn't be without either of them.
I also think that the text message and email alerts are a good idea. Similar to an Amber Alert but going to those students that request the service. It's the most sensible idea I've heard being discussed nationally. It won't keep you safe but it at least would give some warning. And those that don't have the service would almost certainly be around someone who did. I don't know how that would be implemented but it can't be that difficult. My concern would be classrooms that have students silence their phones might not receive the messages. Maybe each classroom could be fitted with an emergency device of some kind that goes off with this type of message. Those are the type of details that can be worked out but the concept seems sound.
I watched the news clip on CNN and it really shocked me to know that the numbers have doubled since 7:30 a.m. This is very sad I'm also a student a local college in my neighborhood and it would really affect me if something like this happen at my school. In my opinion I don't think anywhere is safe unless people stand forth and can make it safe. I think education is so important when dealing with school; its how the world lives and functions. Schools need to enforce laws and set grounds and standards for students and facilities. They need to be prepare for the unexpected and the expected. You never know what can happen and at what given time. When the frist shooting occurred students needed to be evacuated then not later after the second shooting begun. My deepest prayers and sincerity goes to the families and victims of Virgina Tech University incident.
WFJ I would just like to say I fell so much pain and hurt in my heart for the family and for the school I have three kids in school and I just can't imagine a thing like that happening at their school I write to say how can we protect our children and schools from a unknown someone that attends or work at the school whom may not be right in the head, is there a answer for that? and could our police get there in time to prevent people from getting hurt? I really think that we should educate the children on how to report strange behavior from other students and not just ignore them I don't know I'm just a parent who is concerned about this situation.
Once again a lonely, isolated young adult has struck out and created a great tragedy. The popular young people who feel good about themselves and others never do this kind of thing. Even low achievers who accept their limitations and do their best do not carry out such anger. It is always the loner, the invisible student, the one who has problems. This is not to say that many loners are potential killers. Many of us are far from social butterflies.
At the college level, where everything is voluntary, it may be impossible to help the troubled person. However,our elementary and secondary schools could help prevent potential killers by making sure that, at least at school, every child feels wanted and important.
The focus of schools needs to come off of test scores and on to helping each child find his or her personal best. Secondary schools need to turn away from more math and toward subjects that develop creative expression---the arts, music, creative writing. They need to redefine the "rigorous" curriculum as one that requires hard work on subject matter, but also recognition and respect for the individual achiever.
Teachers should have high levels of professional skills in education, but should demonstrate that they are also caring human beings. The schools should care about and nurture the teachers so that they will, in turn, nurture the students. Great schools are created by teachers who love their jobs and their students.
I recognize that this shooter is not the product of American schools, as the others have been, but I am sure the problem is not uniquely American. Nowadays it seems to be all about the numbers in developed countries everywhere. It's not healthy. It's not education. It's does not create a well adjusted human being.
To close, the tragedy of Virginia Tech hurts my soul. My heart and prayers go out to the families of the victims. It also goes out to the shooter's family. The tragedy of losing their child as the perpetrator of the most lethal school massacre in American history must have his parent's souls torn to bits.
A terrible tragedy came to my little town. I always felt special because of this beautiful New River Valley. God surely was in a good mood the day he created the purple hue that surrounds the top of the mountains as the sun sets. Where the fall produces the most beautiful colorful trees in the world. And, where the first wind of the winter gently blows the snow laden on huge pine tree limbs. This is the most beautiful, but now sad area. To lessen the pain, we must think that the victims held hands as they traveled together towards heaven. Also, we must teach our children to be kind to others. And, we as adults, must practice random acts of kindness to be an example others. We never know the hurt that other might be experiencing. GO HOKIES!!!
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