On Monday, April 16, college campuses around the nation gathered in front of televisions and computer screens to watch the tragedy unfold on the Virginia Tech campus.
A shooter, who has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English major, opened fire on his campus, killing 32 students and professors before taking his own life.
This horrendous calamity is the worst shooting to happen on a college campus in U.S. history. As Virginia Tech struggles to deal with the meaning behind this horrific tragedy, campuses across the country are coming together to show their support for this terrible loss.
CNN.com reported that at 7:15 A.M., a 911 call was placed to police that a shooting took place at West Ambler Johnston, a dorm on the campus. Police responded immediately and deemed the incident isolated and under control. An e-mail was also sent out to the campus alerting students to the morning’s event at 9:26 A.M., saying that there had been a shooting and if anyone saw anything suspicious or had any information to contact the Virginia Tech Police. When the police could not locate the shooter, they began to think that perhaps he had left the campus.
However, another tragic event had already begun. Around 9:15 A.M., almost 30 shots were reported from Norris Hall. Again, police responded and began to contain the chaos. Cho, the shooter from earlier that morning, had entered several classrooms and shot at his fellow students with two different guns, a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a 9mm Glock handgun.
Cho, who immigrated to the US when he was eight, bought both handguns legally. He bought the .22 on March 13 and the 9mm last week, due to a Virginia state law that prohibits the purchase of more than one firearm in a 30-day period. A federal source said that it appeared that Cho had either been trained in or had trained himself in “execution-style” killing because of his “killing effectiveness.”
The ER doctor on staff at Montgomery Hospital, Dr. Joseph Cacioppo, was quoted on CNN.com having said, “The injuries were just amazing. This man was brutal. There wasn’t a shooting victim that didn’t have less than three bullet wounds in him.”
What motivated Cho is not yet known. The Associated Press reported that, “Cho left a note in his dorm in which he railed against ‘rich kids,’ ‘debauchery,’ and ‘deceitful charlatans’ on the Virginia Tech campus.” Professor Carolyn Rude, the chairperson of the English Department, also told the AP, “there was some concern about him.” In his creative writing class that concerns were raised, as some of his work was graphic and disturbing. Rude said that she has referred him to the university’s counseling center, but she didn’t know what had happened after that.
As government officials, both local and national, began to react to the news, the sentiment was all the same – deep and incredible sorrow. President Bush spoke to the Virginia Tech community on Monday night. “I know many of you feel awfully far away from people you lean on, people you count on during difficult times. But as a dad, I can assure you, a parent’s love in never far from a child’s heart. And as you draw closer to your own families in the coming days, I ask you to reach out to those who ache for sons and daughters who will never come home.”
Perhaps Virginia Tech President Charles Steger put it best, “Please, please take care of yourself first…Go to where you need to go where you have the most love and the best support and, I often say, where you can get the best hugs.”
A memorial service has been planned for this campus to honor and remember all those who were hurt or killed during this tragedy. More details will be provided as they become available.