Tweet
A shooting victim is carried out of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., Monday. Shootings in a dorm and classroom at the school resulted in multiple fatalities. (Alan Kim, The Roanoke Times/AP Photo)
At least 33 people, including a gunman, were killed Monday during shootings in a dorm and a building housing classrooms at Virginia Tech, university officials said.
The death toll makes the incident the deadliest school attack in U.S. history.
No identification was found on the gunman's body, police said. He apparently shot himself in the face after the killings.
Two people were killed at a dormitory about 7:15 a.m., while another 30 people were killed two hours later at Norris Hall, the engineering science and mechanics building, university officials said.
Though university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said police were still investigating whether the two incidents were related, he also said the gunman at Norris Hall took his own life. Investigators are not ruling out a second shooter, Flinchum said.
"Norris Hall is a tragic and a sorrowful crime scene, and we are in the process of identifying victims," university President Charles Steger said.
Asked why the campus, which has more than 26,000 students, was not shut down after the first shooting, Flinchum responded that police received information that "it was an isolated event to that building and the decision was made not to cancel classes at that time."
Steger added, "We had some reason to believe the shooter had left campus."
"Schools should be places of safety and learning," President Bush said this afternoon from the White House. "When that safety is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom in every American community."
Law enforcement officials tell ABC News they believe there was a single gunman, firing at least two 9mm semi-automatic pistols. They said he may have been wearing a bulletproof vest.
It is unknown at this time if the guns had standard or extended clips, which can fire as many as 30 shots before the gun has to be reloaded.
Two Shootings
"The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental proportions," said university president Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and horrified that this would befall our campus."
A count by ABC News shows that at least 28 people had been admitted to hospitals, most with gunshot wounds.
18 were at Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, and four of them, in critical condition, were taken into surgery. Some had broken ankles, back and neck injuries after jumping from the buildings where the shootings were happening.
Four others were at Lewis Gale Medical Center if Salem, Va.
The Carilion Hospital System, which has a number of hospitals in the Blacksburg area, said it had admitted six people total — all of whom were being treated for gunshot wounds. Shirley Holland, a spokesperson, said three are in critical condition at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, a facility equipped with a trauma center about 45 minutes from Blacksburg.
Another three are in stable condition at Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, about 20 minutes from campus.
It was too windy to evacuate the injured by helicopter, so the victims were all sent to hospitals by ambulance. Spokespeople said there is currently not a pressing need for additional blood donations.
The first reported shootings occurred at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory that houses 895 students. The dormitory, one of the largest residence halls on the 2,600-acre campus, is located near the drill field and stadium.
Police were investigating the first shooting when more shots were fired at Norris Hall, an academic building across campus. At least 20 people are known to have died there.
Amie Steele, editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, said one of her reporters at the dormitory reported "mass chaos."
The reporter said there were "lots of students running around, going crazy, and the police officers were trying to settle everyone down and keep everything under control," according to Steele.
Kristyn Heiser said she was in class about 9:30 a.m. when she and her classmates saw about six gun-wielding police officers run by a window.
"We were like, 'What's going on?' Because this definitely is a quaint town where stuff doesn't really happen. It's pretty boring here," said Heiser during a phone interview as she sat on her classroom floor.
Another student, Tiffany Otey, said she and her classmates initially thought the gunshots were construction noise until they heard screaming and police officers with bulletproof vests and machine guns entered her classroom.
"They were telling us to put our hands above our head and if we didn't cooperate and put our hands above our heads they would shoot," Otey said. "I guess they were afraid, like us, like the shooter was going to be among one of us."
Student reports 'mayhem'
Student Matt Waldron said he did not hear the gunshots because he was listening to music, but he heard police sirens and saw officers hiding behind trees with their guns drawn.
"They told us to get out of there so we ran across the drill field as quick as we could," he said.
Waldron described the scene on campus as "mayhem."
"It was kind of scary," he said. "These two kids I guess had panicked and jumped out of the top-story window and the one kid broke his ankle and the other girl was not in good shape just lying on the ground."
Madison Van Duyne said she and her classmates in a media writing class were on "lockdown" in their classrooms. They were huddled in the middle of the classroom, writing stories about the shootings and posting them online.
The university is updating its students through e-mails, and an Internet webcam is broadcasting live pictures of the campus.
It is not clear what happened between the two shootings — what could have been a gap of two hours. The buildings where they happened are about half a mile apart, a distance one can walk in about ten minutes, according to Alex Mengel, a freshman at the school.
The school sent out an e-mail to all students at 9:26 A.M., telling them of the first incident.
"The university community is urged to be cautious," it said, "and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case."
Eyewitness: '40 or 50 shots'
Engineering student Josh Wargo, a junior at Virginia Tech, said he was sitting in class when students began to hear "loud banging noises" followed by screaming. He said many students panicked. Some began to jump out of a window two stories above ground level.
"We heard almost 40 or 50 shots," Wargo told ABC News. "They were going on from the time we heard them and jumped out the window until almost two minutes later."
"When I landed, I was in a daze, standing outside of the building," Wargo said. "Then I heard shots going through glass — that's when it hit me that I had to get out of there."
Gina Om, another Virginia Tech junior, was at the Montgomery Regional Hospital to be with a friend who had been shot.
"It's kind of surreal right now," Om said. "I've always thought Virginia Tech was very safe…one of the reasons why my mom liked this school."
Students Look Online for Information
Families trying to find their children have been directed by the university to the Inn at Virginia Tech.
But many students were looking online for information about schoolmates. Some of them established a so-called "wall" at Facebook.com to share what they knew; others turned to MySpace.com.
"Many of us are all worried about our friends, so lets do this. If you are okay!," wrote a person on Facebook who identified himself as Carlos "Mohawk Monday" Fernandez. "Please update your status in facebook to say something like 'i'm okay.'"
The campus web system was quickly overwhelmed by e-mail traffic, and concerned online visitors, after news of the shootings broke. Students said they could not get on Virginia Tech's site for information.
"I've talked with dozens of students today," said Jeff Hancock, an Assistant Professor of Communications at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He said, "Everyone is using … Facebook.
"VT students are using it to spread word quickly, account for friends and provide support for one another."
Shootings Follow Two Bomb Threats
ABC News has confirmed that there were two separate bomb threats last week at Virginia Tech.
The first was directed at Torgersen Hall, a classroom and laboratory building, while the second was directed at multiple engineering buildings. Students and staff were evacuated, and the university had sent out e-mails across campus, offering a $5,000 reward for information about the threats.
"I got the e-mails, but my impression was it was prank or nothing serious," said Wargo, describing the Blacksburg campus as "pretty peaceful."
Virginia Tech — formally known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University —is located in the western end of the state near the borders of West Virginia and Tennessee. It has more than 28,000 full time students. Its campus, which spreads out over 2,600 acres, has more than 100 buildings.
The number of dead is almost twice as high as the previous record for a mass shooting on an American college campus. That occurred at the University of Texas in Austin on Aug. 1, 1966, when a gunman named Charles Whitman opened fire from the 28th floor of a campus tower. Whitman killed 16 and injured 31.
"It is difficult to comprehend senseless violence on this scale," said Virginia's Governor Timothy M. Kaine in a statement. "Our prayers are with the families and friends of these victims, and members of the extended Virginia Tech community."
Source: ABC News & CNN