Shooting in US - Virginia

[RoadRaven]

Just watching this unfold on our morning news
22 confirmed dead so far

Am in numb shock watching this... has this affected any of our TE-ers/families?

My thoughts are with you as you deal with this - it sounds worse than even Columbine... or even the Texas shooting in 1966 where Whitman took 16 lives and wounded over 20...

I don't know what to say... this is dreadful...

[RoadRaven]

Oh Goddess.... its 31 dead now and over 30 injured...

My heart is crying

[KnottedYet]

There is nothing on the Seattle TV stations, even the Seattle news station.

Nothing on the FM or AM news radio stations.

Dang, you'd think there'd be a ticker at the bottom of the screen or somthing!

[SheFly]

Check MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18134671/?GT1=9246)- they broke the news during the Boston Marathon this morning. Very sad indeed. Thoughts to anyone here who may be related to the situation.

SheFly

[Eden]

There is nothing on the Seattle TV stations, even the Seattle news station.

Nothing on the FM or AM news radio stations.

Dang, you'd think there'd be a ticker at the bottom of the screen or somthing!

there was some coverage on KUOW - at least a few minutes ago. Very sad.

[Jenn]

I was just going to ask for prayers or positive thoughts, as I have 2 cousins that attend VA Tech. Apprently my Aunt has heard from one of them , but we are still waiting to hear from Steve. The death toll now is 32 and our family is praying for all involved but obviously are VERY concerned for my cousin Steve.

[Running Mommy]

Oh Jenn-
That is scary! I'll get on a prayer right now for you. And also for the other victims of course!
VERY sad!

[Pax]

:( My heart is just breaking for those kids and their families.

[Bikingmomof3]

Jenn,
I do so hope your family has heard good news by now. I am praying for all the families. This is so terribly sad. :(

[stacie]

i have no words to express my feelings. do know that i care and i'm thinking of all those with family, friends, neighbors, etc at V Tech. What is wrong with our society? I am so disgusted.

[Jenn]

Ok, Thank the Good Lord above, that Steve is ok, my Aunt said she just received an email from him because, obviously the phone lines are jammed and he couldn't get through. She said he is VERY shaken up but ok.
However, I am sickened and sadened for those family who were not as fortunate as ours.
ALL are in our prayers and God be with those in mourning, those that are injured, those that have passed and God please help THIS WORLD!!

[IFjane]

Bat's thread: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=14789

I know many children (some I have taught) and parents who have children there. I also know some faculty so it has deeply affected us here in VA. Please keep everyone in your thoughts.

Why??? Not Why Virginia Tech, not why in Virginia....but just WHY????

[RoadRaven]

This is what Bat posted...


I live in VA and many of my friends children go to VA TECH, so the "biggest school shooting in US history" is hitting a little close to home. All I can think of is "what if my child was there?". It is just awful ... if you pray, please pray for the families/firends/faculity of the 30+ who died and the 20+ injured; if you don't pray, please remember them all in your positive thoughts. Thanks.

I am trying to work out what is happening via internet news sites now.

I ended up watching CNN this morning at home... I am stunned that some of you in some states had no idea, and yet it was all over the radio and TV down here, half a world away from you.

Still dumb-struck really. My thoughts are dwelling on my love for my own children (two of whom are doing tertiary study now) and how dreadful this would be if it was me and mine, and I feel soooo much for everyone involved...

[RoadRaven]

So the final toll seems to be 32 plus the non-student shooter himself.

Plus 15 wounded by the shooter, and I guess more wounded who jumped from windows?

I feel cold and icey when I think of this... awhi awhi from Aotearoa to all who are affected by this tradgedy.

[lovemybike]

This is such a terrible terrible thing that has happened. So sad to know that so many young lives have been taken so early. So many young lives effected by this tragedy. These scars will be with them forever. It's such a sad thing. The only thing that will help in this time is prayer and love for everyone involved. This just brings to light how fragile this life is, and the fact that we are not promised another day. This second is all we know is for sure. In light of all that has happened, I hope everyone who reads this will consider their lives and the lives of those around you. The students at VT never thought today would be their last day on earth. Where will you go when you die?

[Mr. Bloom]

we are not promised another day

You're so right. I'm watching CNN at 4AM and the tone seems to be focused on why the University did not respond in a different way (like you can really have a plan to deal with the unfathomable?!?!?), but the armchair quarterbacks of the media will never focus on this one fundamental truth -



today is a blessing and tomorrow is not a promise.

[crazycanuck]

:mad: :confused: :mad: :confused: :mad: :mad: :confused:

I don't understand.

WTF is wrong with people???? Use the thing that attaches to your shoulders!

Batbike-I'll keep VA tech in my thoughts.

*sigh*

c

[uforgot]

You're so right. I'm watching CNN at 4AM and the tone seems to be focused on why the University did not respond in a different way (like you can really have a plan to deal with the unfathomable?!?!?), but the armchair quarterbacks of the media will never focus on this one fundamental truth -



today is a blessing and tomorrow is not a promise.

I teach in a small High School, and yes, we plan for the unfathomable. All doors, except the front door, are locked on the outside, but can be pushed open from the inside. No one can enter from the outside without help. Propping or opening the door to strangers has severe consequenses. It's darn inconvenient, and we complain, but I don't think anyone will have a problem with it today. Only the front door is open, it's by the office and has a security camera on it. Visitors cannot go beyond the front door without approval. In the case of an emergency, we have a code word. If we hear that word from anyone, we are to lock our doors and keep our students in the classroom. In February, our local university had a student threaten others on campus with a white powder. The university was immediately locked down, classes cancelled, and commuters informed by the media to stay away. Entrances blocked, until the student was found and arrested.

No one thinks it can happen to them, but it takes just one crazy person. We plan, practice, (yes, we practice keeping them in the class when told) and we are doing our best to keep the students safe. I certainly appreciated the efforts at UMR, since my son is a student there. Some people think they over reacted, but in hind sight, their actions were appropriate. I'm not saying that it can't happen to us, but I think that schools everywhere should be more prepared for the "unfathomable".

I, too, am wondering why classes were allowed to go on when this man was still at large, and I'm sure this will come out in the next few days, as the questions are already starting. I can't imagine the anguish and second guessing the president of Virginia Tech must feel.

My thoughts and prayers go to everyone at the university, family, friends and employees.

[wannaduacentury]

I work at a small college and I read my email and one of our faculty/staff members son was killed at VT yesterday. The son's name was Michael Bishop. I personally don't know them, but it's incredibly sad that this even happened. When is school violence going to stop? My prayers are with his family and all the others involved. May God Bless and Keep them. Jennifer

[crazycanuck]

Wannadu-Please pass on my condolences to the people that knew Michael.

C

[wannaduacentury]

I work at a small college and I read my email and one of our faculty/staff members son was killed at VT yesterday. The son's name was Michael Bishop. I personally don't know them, but it's incredibly sad that this even happened. When is school violence going to stop? My prayers are with his family and all the others involved. May God Bless and Keep them. Jennifer



Correction- The father's name was Michael Bishop- not the son. I don't have his name yet. The president of my college has sent a heartfelt email to everyone and re-implemented safety protocols for our own school. The chapel is open to anyone that needs it and the campus chaplain is available for counseling. The Bishops are in Va. now. They had left yesterday after the shootings and that their son was injured. They only learned the horrible truth after they arrived, along w/ many other families. J

[wannaduacentury]

Wannadu-Please pass on my condolences to the people that knew Michael.

C


I will. I'll go by the chapel today myself. J

[wannaduacentury]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/12250174/detail.html

The son's name was Christopher Bishop and he taught at VT. He was killed inside a classroom. :mad:

[uforgot]

Someone who was interviewed indicated that maybe the media needs to quit presenting this as a new record. (Deadliest shooting in US history.) While we need to be informed, I wonder what can be done about this attention that is surely attractive to some lunatic out there.

My thoughts are with you wannaduacentury and those who knew Christopher.

[roguedog]

The Bishops are in Va. now. They had left yesterday after the shootings and that their son was injured. They only learned the horrible truth after they arrived, along w/ many other families. J

:confused: :confused: :( :( ??

i cannot imagine.. so my heart goes out to these folks (all of them)..

[Python]

I heard it on our news late last night just before I went to bed:( What is it that drives someone to do such a terrible deed?

My heart and thoughts go out to all the families involved in this awful tragedy:(

[missymaya]

This is just horribly tragic and my thoughts go to all who have been affected, both directly and indirectly. This is an event that is extremely hard to deal with and the victims need loving thoughts. I don't know anyone who is at that university, but my thoughts go to all the students, faculty, staff, and their family members.
As for what the school could do, well, I work in an extremely large university (one of the largest in population 48,000+) and this terrible event has brought many questions. What does a university do? How do they handle it? When is it bad enough to close/lockdown the school? Are we prepared for such an event? I know we are mostly prepared for natural disasters (hurricanes mostly) but I don't think we consider the worst of scenarios. It's in the COOP plan, but rarely practiced, which is needed for preparation. That,Im sure will change.
Again, I can not express how I feel, the sadness within me. We must heal this nation's and this world's soul to end such tragedy.

[IFjane]

My father graduated from VA Tech (class of '41). My brother attended for two years before getting an appointment to West Point. I now have a nephew attending as well as children of several friends. I cannot imagine the hurt & horror everyone is going through. What I do know is this: my father loved that school almost more than his own family. If everyone who has anything to do with Tech feels the same (and I think most do), they will pull together all over the world to help everyone get through this. There is no explanation for something this horrific. All we can do now is move on and appreciate each day as it is given to us. Unfortunately as a free and open society, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the lunatics in the word.

My father died in 2002. I am glad he was not here to see what happened yesterday.

[hellosunshine]

hard to know where to start.it is the sheer WHY factor,the broken lives,the fact that we shouldnt be living in this climate of fear.

im lucky in the uk,so very lucky,this gun culture hasnt grasped us (yet?)like it seems to have in the USA.but even the saftey awareness surrounding children and our freedom has magnified since i was young,we never would lock doors and had so much freedom for exploration.


it is simply all very sad and all very daunting.

[Thistle]

this is so awful i dont even know what to write. my heart goes out to everyone :( stay safe.

[surgtech1956]

I really get tired to the media. I know they have a job to do - reporting the news. But I get tired of the 'spin' that is put on. I think the university thought the decision that they made was the right one at the time. Everybody has an opinion and the media seems to find each and everyone of them. I don't know if anything can really be prevented. Look at 9/11. If someone wants to do something, they will find a way. I think there are just some things that you can never be prepared for.

[Jenn]

My DH has been deployed more times then I can count. Our military forces keep up safe from evil abroad but not form the evil within, which none of us want to face......(even if this shooter was a student on a visa)
My husband our family puts our life on the line for this country and it's safety this is worse then anything DH has seen over there...(it's nomral)...NOT HERE.
This is NOT suppose to happen....atl least in the perfect little bubble we call America...:(

[crazycanuck]

The following is me as a NON American thinking-I don't want to upset anyone at this time but i feel the need to express these ideas:

Again, just another loner in society that's caused mayhem. Sorry to say the law can''t stop them all :(

I know that some people reading this board will want to judge all Americans as bad-gun toting freaks but we can't use that "excuse" any longer. Aren't we all the same in some way? I realize that may sound dumb but isn't it true?

Somehow society will put aside it's prejudice against any lonely individual and perhaps learn to understand. Hard to say at a time like this but i somehow believe it.

Perhaps understand is the wrong word..Then again, perhaps it's correct & we need to accept the gun culture in the US. It's hard to comprehend and hard to accept. So many countries are looking in & wondering how America can have the right to carry a firearm but still have a safe society. Whatever that may mean.

I worry about you ladies who carry guns & mace on your bikes.

Take care of yourselves.

C

[cosc]

I just want to rant on these horrendous incidents. How can a person become so deranged to take innocents life for no reason? There is never a good reason to take a life, but I can comprehend why a person might want to commit suicide -but why everyone else? Humans seem to be the only creature to take life for no reason. Their spirit/heart must be blind to everything except hate. If mankind could reach out to the troubled folks with love and hope mabe these events wouldn't happen with such frequency.

[Python]

hard to know where to start.it is the sheer WHY factor,the broken lives,the fact that we shouldnt be living in this climate of fear.

im lucky in the uk,so very lucky,this gun culture hasnt grasped us (yet?)like it seems to have in the USA.but even the saftey awareness surrounding children and our freedom has magnified since i was young,we never would lock doors and had so much freedom for exploration.


it is simply all very sad and all very daunting.

We did have two terrible gun massacres. One at Hungerford in 1987 (Michael Ryan) and the other at the primary school in Dunblane, Perthshire in Scotland, 1996 (Thomas Hamilton) where, if I remember correctly 17 5 and 6 years olds were slaughtered along with their teacher. In both cases, the gunmen turned the guns on themselves and both were "loners". That's what gave rise to the banning of guns in this country. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked and gun crime is rapidly on the rise, particularly among drug gangs:(

[oxysback]

We did have two terrible gun massacres. One at Hungerford in 1987 (Michael Ryan) and the other at the primary school in Dunblane, Perthshire in Scotland, 1996 (Thomas Hamilton) where, if I remember correctly 17 5 and 6 years olds were slaughtered along with their teacher. In both cases, the gunmen turned the guns on themselves and both were "loners". That's what gave rise to the banning of guns in this country. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked and gun crime is rapidly on the rise, particularly among drug gangs:(

People can make all the gun laws they want, but the only people that will abide by them are responsible citizens. A 'law' isn't going to stop someone that isn't going to follow the rules in the first place. There will never be a law that will stop psychos from doing psychotic things.

Those poor people...it was a given that none of them would be able to protect themselves, being that they were in a gun free zone. I wonder if people would think twice about doing this kind of thing if there was a possibility of retaliation from their 'target'?

[CR400]

We can't really begin to imagine the horror that those students both dead, injured, and escaped went through it those few seconds. My prayers of comfort go out to those who lost loved ones and to the community of Blacksburg as well. College towns tend to be large but still somehow close knit.

[CR400]

The culture in the US does seem to many especially those in other countries to be gun happy. However, most gun owners in the US won't even ever use their gun on another living thing. A large percentage do hunt wild game, but not with a handgun.

My state has within the past few years become a state that has concealed carry. Which means you can have a handgun on you at anytime and I don't have to know about it. However, many places such as schools, banks, and a few other places it is illegal to carry your gun. Although to have a concealed carry permit they have to good through a training course and a battery of personality tests and likely profiles. Not to mention background checks and manditory wait to get the gun. So even if somebody would have been allowed to carry it wouldn't have been allowed in class. All this makes me want to go out and buy a bullet proof vest and wear Kevlar all the time, but I won't allow fear to overtake me.

And Jenn, thank you for being a strong support to you DH as he goes and fights for freedom on other shores for this country. And thank him for me.

[Python]

Absolutely right about psychos doing psycho things and nothing will stop them. Unfortunately, they often take a lot of innocent people with them:(

In this country (UK) we have a very weak government who puts the criminal before the victim so gang killings are becoming commonplace. What is even more worrying is that children are killing children. By that I mean 13 and 14 year olds or even younger. There have been several children murdered by their peers in the last few weeks - stabbings mainly. In this country we are no longer allowed to protect our family and home. Retaliate and hit, say, a burglar and it's the houseowner who gets prosecuted by the police and sued by the burglar:eek:

I don't know what the answer is and there will always be psychotic people who, for some reason, go over the edge and do these terrible things. Very sad for all concerned - even the perpetrators. They have families too. To know your son or daughter has murdered many people in cold blood just doesn't bear thinking about:(

[KayTee]

I hope we can learn from this catastrophic horror and keep the politics, media frenzy and blame-throwing aside (and that's not directed at our TE community, BTW!!). My niece is on her way home from VT at this moment, safe but understandably upset and stressed out. She and her friends were being accosted by the reporters and media reps who are everywhere on campus, but especially as they were leaving the convocation yesterday. I cannot imagine what the families and friends of those who died are going through but fervently hope that they can find some comfort in the support of their loved ones, the Hokie community and all who are reaching out in sympathy.

[crazycanuck]

Could i ask why some students wear thier military dress at uni's in the states?

Is Virginia Tech a stepping stone to Westpoint?:confused:

C

[Aggie_Ama]

Canuck- Virginia Tech is a land grant school (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land-grant_university), part of their original intent was to teach military tactics. Virginia Tech has a program to train their students for military careers. My alma mater is also a land grant school with a Corp Program. They wore uniforms and did drills each day. Many were commissioned into the military as officers upon graduation.

[Aggie_Ama]

I really get tired to the media. I know they have a job to do - reporting the news. But I get tired of the 'spin' that is put on. I think the university thought the decision that they made was the right one at the time. Everybody has an opinion and the media seems to find each and everyone of them. .

This is why I chose not to use my degree in journalism. The "If it bleeds it leads" mentality is appalling. They always have to look for the most horrendous, most shocking or most controversial story to sell their product.

We could debate for hours if the university made the right decision and point fingers now that we know the outcome, but where is that going to get us? IMO the original thought that the first incident might have been a domestic dispute seemed like a rational assumption. The people who made the decision to focus on it that way are probably already sick with guilt and asking themselves "What if?". The media has played out the "Why didn't they???" angle too far.

And as someone who went to a university double the size of VT in students and comparable size in acreage, I wonder how the administration could have prevented the second shootings. Sadly, I could see this happening at most universities. The freedom colleges afford also leaves the students and faculty vunerable.

My hope is that all universities can pull out their disaster plans and study them, learning from this tragedy.

[lovemybike]

People can make all the gun laws they want, but the only people that will abide by them are responsible citizens. A 'law' isn't going to stop someone that isn't going to follow the rules in the first place. There will never be a law that will stop psychos from doing psychotic things.

Those poor people...it was a given that none of them would be able to protect themselves, being that they were in a gun free zone. I wonder if people would think twice about doing this kind of thing if there was a possibility of retaliation from their 'target'?

great point. I did read an article just recently about a shooting on another college campus where the shooter entered a building, went to an upper floor and shot one person, then went to another floor and began to shoot other students. Two students ran from the building to their nearby vehicles and got their own guns. they returned to the building and sudued the shooter. What would have happened had someone been able to reraliate?

This is such a terrible situation. Unbelievable! But you can't blame guns, if he couldn't get a gun, he would have built a bomb or something else. If people ar going to kill they don't need a gun. "Gun's don't kill people, People do"

As a young female living by myself, I feel much more safe with guns in my house. If I didn't have them, I would be worried, what would I do if someone broke in my house???

Evil is the problem here. Sin is the problem here. Take guns away and only criminals will have guns.

[crazycanuck]

Aggie-thanks for the info :)

I have to post this link to the nzherald site. I'm not saying anyone's comments are right or wrong but i'm saddened by some of the comments :(

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10434649

C :(

[sarahlou]

CC- thanks for posting that link. It was interesting. How little understanding we have of/for others sometimes...