The Fighting 44s

It’s unfortunately the deadliest shooting in US history, and an Asian has been identified as the gunman. Our thoughts go out to all the victims of this horrible tragedy.

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31 Killed on Virginia Tech Campus
Posted: 10:24 AM Apr 16, 2007
Last Updated: 1:46 PM Apr 16, 2007

Blacksburg, VA (CBS/AP) - A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 31 people in the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, government officials told The Associated Press.

The FBI and the ATF believe the gunman, described as a young Asian male, used two handguns in the shootings before taking his own life, sources tell CBS News.

At least 20 others were injured in the shootings, police said.

“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.”

One student was killed in the dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum said.

The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. EST at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

The name of the gunman was not released.

Officials are confident there was one gunman and that the shootings were not part of a larger plot, CBS News reports. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no immediate evidence to suggest it was a terrorist attack, “but all avenues will be explored.”

Up until Monday, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the 28th-floor observation deck of a clock tower and opened fire. He killed 16 people before he was gunned down by police. In the Columbine High School bloodbath near Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

The deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard drove his pickup into a Luby’s Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

When notified of the shootings, President Bush said he was “horrified” and called it a “shocking incident.”

After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed and classes canceled through Tuesday.

The rampage took place on a brisk spring day, with snow flurries swirling around the campus, which is is centered around the Drill Field, a grassy field where military cadets who now represent a fraction of the student body once practiced. The dorm and the classroom building are on opposites sides of the Drill Field.

A gasp could be heard at a campus news conference when the police chief said at least 20 people had been killed. Previously, only one person was thought to have been killed.

Aimee Kanode, a first-year student, said the shooting happened on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her room. The resident assistant in Kanode’s dormitory knocked on her door about 8 a.m. EST to notify students to stay put.

“They had us under lockdown,” Kanode said. “They temporarily lifted the lockdown, the gunman shot again.”

“We’re all locked in our dorms surfing the Internet trying to figure out what’s going on,” Kanode said.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff’s deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus. The accused gunman in that shooting, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

Copyright 2007 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 5:16 pm and is filed under News, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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