Breaking News: At least 22 dead in Va. Tech shooting rampage

[rainbowdemon]

BLACKSBURG, Va. - A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing at least 21 people in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. The gunman also was killed and some officials expected the death toll to be even higher given that several dozen others were also shot.

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[DudeAsInCool]

The whole thing is just awful. All our hearts here at Beatking go out to the students and families affected by this tragedy. 31 people have died.

[method77]

31!!

[DudeAsInCool]

31!!

At least 32... I just heard second hand that there was a delay by police and campus police after the first killing of two hours. Students on campus were apparently notified that there was an altercation on campus and put under lockdown--but they were not notified there was a shooting. The question is how is it possible that the police weren't able to act in time before the real rampage began?

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[Malicious Intent]

:(

http://news.bbc.co.uk

[DudeAsInCool]

A student describes the scenario:

[DudeAsInCool]

My note above confirmed by Drudge:

Virginia Tech students and an employee say the first e-mail warning they got from the university about the shooting rampage came more than two hours after the first shots were firedÑby which time the gunman had struck again... Developing...

More on this issue from the LA Times

[slum_goddess]

IMO this is yet another distraction begun by the cheney regime, to take the heat off AG's head, as he's been rehearsing 'the truth' for like five hours a day and his timellines and incidents haven't yet added up properly.

what's 31 students to over 3,000 people killed due to their negligence? NOTHING. :(

[DudeAsInCool]

It's a tragedy in and off itself.

From the Huffington Post::

"Death Toll At 33... University President, Police Chief Hold Press Conference: 'Gunman Deceased…Identity Not Confirmed'…'It Has Not Been Decided If First And Second Incidents Are Connected'…'Possibility That Bomb Threats Are Connected'… Cell Phone Video Of Shootings... Student: People "Jumped Out Of The Top Story Window To Escape"…Bush Statement: Nation Is "Shocked And Saddened"…Bush Spokeswoman: "President Believes That There Is A Right For People To Bear Arms"…Presidential Candidates' Reaction…"

Whatever the President's beliefs, I think it is highly inappropriate to make a statement like that at this time

[rainbowdemon]

IMO this is yet another distraction begun by the cheney regime, to take the heat off AG's head, as he's been rehearsing 'the truth' for like five hours a day and his timellines and incidents haven't yet added up properly.

what's 31 students to over 3,000 people killed due to their negligence? NOTHING. :(

Slum, come on now.

[DudeAsInCool]

Slum, come on now.

I agree--the Bush regime is responsible for a lot of things--but not this

[KiwiCoromandel]

absolutely bloody dreadful....my total sympathy for the families of those lost in this ghastly debacle...and dare i say it....i believe american gun/firearms laws are mainly responsible...where`s the NRA on this one???.... :glare:

[DudeAsInCool]

absolutely bloody dreadful....my total sympathy for the families of those lost in this ghastly debacle...and dare i say it....i believe american gun/firearms laws are mainly responsible...where`s the NRA on this one???.... :glare:

Apparently not this time - the shooter was not a citizen:

A Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.

The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups...

Police believe 3 bomb threats on campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus' security response...

He was said to have quarreled in a dormitory with his girlfriend, whom he believed had been seeing another man. A student adviser was called to sort out the fight. But the killer produced a gun and shot dead both his girlfriend and the adviser...

DrudgeReport

[KiwiCoromandel]

Apparently not this time - the shooter was not a citizen:

The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups...

Police believe 3 bomb threats on campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus' security response...

He was said to have quarreled in a dormitory with his girlfriend, whom he believed had been seeing another man. A student adviser was called to sort out the fight. But the killer produced a gun and shot dead both his girlfriend and the adviser...

DrudgeReport

...but dude...where did he get the gun from...he didn`t bring it into the US with him did he?

[DudeAsInCool]

...but dude...where did he get the gun from...he didn`t bring it into the US with him did he?

Good question - so it's not clear as to where he got it from

[KiwiCoromandel]

Apparently not this time - the shooter was not a citizen:

A Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.

The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai.

DrudgeReport

i hear what you`re saying though...

[Potato]

IMO this is yet another distraction begun by the cheney regime, to take the heat off AG's head, as he's been rehearsing 'the truth' for like five hours a day and his timellines and incidents haven't yet added up properly.

what's 31 students to over 3,000 people killed due to their negligence? NOTHING. :(

That doesn't make it any less tragic.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationwor...world-headlines

[DudeAsInCool]

...Although the gunman in the dorm was at large, no warning was issued to the tens of thousands of students and staff at Virginia Tech until 9:26 a.m., more than two hours later.

"We concluded it was domestic in nature," Flinchum said. "We had reason to believe the shooter had left campus and may have left the state." He declined to elaborate. But several law enforcement sources said investigators thought the shooter might have intended to kill a girl and her boyfriend Monday in what one of them described as a "lover's dispute." It was unclear whether the girl killed at the dorm was the intended target, they said.

The sources said police initially focused on the female student's boyfriend, a student at nearby Radford University, as a suspect. Police questioned the boyfriend, later termed "a person of interest," and were questioning him when they learned of the subsequent shootings at Norris Hall. A family friend of the boyfriend's said the boyfriend was stopped by police alongside Route 460 in Blacksburg, handcuffed and interrogated on the side of the road and later released.

Students who lived in the dorm said they received knocks on the door telling them to stay in their rooms but nothing else. Shortly before 9:30 a.m., the university sent out this e-mail: "A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston [dorm] earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.

"The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case."

Steger said that, even though the gunman was at large, "we had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur." He said only a fraction of the university's 26,000 students live on campus, and "it's extremely difficult if not impossible to get the word out spontaneously."

Students on campus and parents were angry. When Blake Harrison, 21, of Leesburg learned of the shootings, he said, he called an administrative help line and was told "to proceed with caution to classes." He said: "I'm beyond upset. I'm enraged."

Full story at the Washington Post

[DudeAsInCool]

LAREDO, Texas — Sen. John McCain said Monday the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech does not change his view that the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to carry a weapon.

"We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people," McCain said while campaigning in this Texas-Mexico border city.

The Arizona Republican said he didn't know the details of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

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Again--I think it's highly inappropriate to be discussing gun rights during a national tragedy like this--this guy is not fit to be a candidate let alone a President when he mixes politics with a tragedy. The focus should be on the students and other victims--and on how to ensure an event like this won't happen again

[DudeAsInCool]

Drumbeat of Shots, Broken by Pauses to Reload

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 16 — The gunshots were so slow and steady that some students thought they came from a nearby construction site, until they saw the police officers with rifles pointed at Norris Hall, the engineering building at Virginia Tech.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

They went on and on, for what seemed like 10 or 15 or 20 minutes, an eternity with punctuation.

Bang. Bang. On the third floor of Norris Hall, Scott L. Hendricks, a professor, looked out the window of his office and saw students crawling away from the building.

Bang. Tiffany Otey’s accounting class crammed into an office and locked themselves in, crying in fright.

Every so often, the shots paused for a minute or so. That was the gunman, who was in the midst of the worst shooting rampage in American history, stopping to reload. When it was over, 33 people, including the gunman, were dead and at least 15 more were injured.

Read more at the NYTimes

[slum_goddess]

Slum, come on now.

sorry, but i believe what i believe.

Good question - so it's not clear as to where he got it from

yeah, i wonder where and why?

That doesn't make it any less tragic.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationwor...world-headlines

i thought it was understood that i was horrified and think it's tragic, not only for my tinfoil hat shite.

[method77]

we all know Bush and Co are shit but they have nothing to do with this. Neither does gun laws. Guns can be bought easily even if the law does not allow it.

The real reason is somewhere in the american way of living and how people treat someone who is different. It's not coincidence that this type of killings only happen in the US.

My opinion.

[DudeAsInCool]

we all know Bush and Co are shit but they have nothing to do with this. Neither does gun laws. Guns can be bought easily even if the law does not allow it.

The real reason is somewhere in the american way of living and how people treat someone who is different. It's not coincidence that this type of killings only happen in the US.

My opinion.

If the shooter was a Chinese National than its the American's fault? Huh? The anti-Americanism astounds me.

[method77]

yes dude. It's the way the system treats "different" people. I don't mean only people from other countries. I mean people that act different as well. People that dress differntly, people that talk funny and all that. I have there and been to school for 2 years and saw it first hand.

It has nothing to do with anti-americanism and all that. Perhaps you can't understand because you only lived in america and you live in a city which is very different than most american cities

[DudeAsInCool]

yes dude. It's the way the system treats "different" people. I don't mean only people from other countries. I mean people that act different as well. People that dress differntly, people that talk funny and all that. I have there and been to school for 2 years and saw it first hand.

It has nothing to do with anti-americanism and all that. Perhaps you can't understand because you only lived in america and you live in a city which is very different than most american cities

i grew up in a small town--we had whites, blacks, farmers, factory workers, college people, military people--we all got along. i grew up with foreign people--arabs, chinese, living upstairs. the whole notion that we in this country are backwards is a joke--this is the ultimate melting pot

More to the pt--the shooter was a Chinese National--how could you blame Americans for the shootings when they were the victims?????!!!!

You dont see the Dude ever saying...ohh the Chinese are like this; the Muslims are like that. But I have to sit here and hear about these stereotypes about Americans. It's a big country--we have all types.