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31 die in US campus carnage
16/04/2007 21:21 - (SA)
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| Injured occupants are carried out of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. (Alan Kim, AP Photo/The Roanoke Times). |
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Blacksburg - A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing at least 30 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in US history, government officials told The Associated Press. The gunman was killed, bringing to death toll to 31, but it was unclear if he was shot by police or took his own life.
"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."
The name of the gunman was not immediately released, and investigators offered no motive for the attack. It was not clear if the gunman was a student. Panic and confusion
The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus, with witnesses reporting students jumping out of classroom windows to escape the gunfire. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive. Police with flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed the campus.
The bloodbath took place on opposite sides of the 1 050ha campus, beginning at about 07:15 (11:15 GMT) at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering faculty building.
Police said they were still investigating the shooting at the dorm when they got word of gunfire at the classroom building.
After the first shots were fired, students were warned to stay indoors and away from the windows. But some students said they thought the precautions had been lifted by the time the second burst of gunfire was heard, and some bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time, two hours after the bloodshed began. FBI
FBI spokesperson Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no evidence to suggest it was a terrorist attack, "but all avenues will be explored".
Some of the dead were students. One student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, Virginia Tech police chief WR Flinchum said.
Before Monday, the deadliest campus shooting in US 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.
Before Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in US 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.
A gasp could be heard on Monday 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 on the campus, which has 25 000 full-time students. President 'horrified' by attack
A White House spokesperson said President George W Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia.
"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," spokesperson Dana Perino said.
After Monday's shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed and classes cancelled through Tuesday. The university set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children and counselors were made available. A convocation was planned for Tuesday at the school's basketball arena.
"There's just a lot of commotion. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on," said Jason Anthony Smith, 19, who lives in the dorm where the shooting took place. Lockdown
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 08:00 (12:00 GMT) to notify students to stay put.
"They had us under lockdown," Kanode said. "When 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.
Madison Van Duyne, a student who was interviewed by telephone on CNN, said, "We are all in lockdown. Most of the students are sitting on the floors away from the windows just trying to be as safe as possible." Bomb threats
Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks, but said they had not determined a link to the shootings.
It was second time in less than a year that the campus had been closed because of a shooting.
In August 2006, the opening day of classes was cancelled 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, William Morva, is facing capital murder charges.
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