Shootings at Virginia Tech

[PLFKING 3]

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My dad is a professor there,

Your dad and Woolly were the first two people I thought of when I heard this. I'm very thankful all the VT jumpers are okay.


Don

"When in doubt I whip it out,
I got me a rock-and-roll band.
It's a free-for-all."

[karenmeal 0]

Carrie,

They knew at 7:15 this morning that a shooting had happened in the dorms on campus. They knew that the gunman had more than one gun and lots of ammo. They "secured" that dorm and knew that the gunmen was not in that dorm.

So.. they knew for a fact that they had an armed murderer loose on campus.

Why not close classes for the day? Seriously, can you not learn the same stuff tomorrrow? Oh.. well.. you can if you're alive tomorrow.

I know you've watched CNN.. well... I've talked to my friends and family in the community and we all agree that the University had the time and capacity to prevent the last 31 deaths and they did nothing.

Students should have been notified. The police should have done more than just secure the one building. They've been having bomb threats for the past two weeks, they had a gunman on the loose in the fall.. they've had every reason to be prepared for a catastrophe like this to occurr and the police and the people in charge at VT FAILED MISERABLY!

This could have been prevented or at least the number of people who were killed could have been greatly reduced.

It is just ridiculous that nothing more was done.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[PLFXpert 0]

Agreed--you have the inside scoop. And, again, agreed I would have wanted to at least been notified to then make my own decision whether or not to go to class that day...regardless of whether or not they still held it.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[karenmeal 0]

Also.. consider that this is a small town. Murders are rare.

Bottom-line.. students should have been notified that there was a potential murderer on the loose.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[PLFXpert 0]

There's a lot to consider.

It's an emotional time.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[VTcnix 0]

I just wanted to give thanks to all of the skydiving community who have had the VT skydivers on their minds. We have had quite an outpouring of support on our myspace account. http://www.myspace.com/skydivevt Luckily, all of our guys are safe and sound, but I have already heard from one of our guys who knew some of the people involved.
It is nice to know what a tight knit and supportive community we are involved in.

[faulknerwn 36]

Yeah I spent a summer at Virginia Tech when I was a junior in high school. Its such a small little town, its hard to picture this happening in such a rural area.. What a shame...

[kenz 0]

there is a lot of speculation as to why things happened the way they did - but right now the most important thing is to keep everyone that was affected in our thoughts and prayers - this is nothing short of a tragedy - and i know there are no words that can bring comfort to those hurting so badly - but i will keep them all in my prayers... god bless those that lost their lives and those in mourning

"life does throw curveballs sometimes but it doesn't mean we shouldn't still swing for the homerun" ~ me

[wildcard451 0]

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there is a lot of speculation as to why things happened the way they did - but right now the most important thing is to keep everyone that was affected in our thoughts and prayers - this is nothing short of a tragedy - and i know there are no words that can bring comfort to those hurting so badly - but i will keep them all in my prayers... god bless those that lost their lives and those in mourning

A voice of reason

This entire corner of the state is deeply tied to that university in one way or another.....I haven't left work yet, but I don't even want to really because I know the feel that will be in ther air when I drive through town.

[NWFlyer 2]

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there is a lot of speculation as to why things happened the way they did - but right now the most important thing is to keep everyone that was affected in our thoughts and prayers - this is nothing short of a tragedy - and i know there are no words that can bring comfort to those hurting so badly - but i will keep them all in my prayers... god bless those that lost their lives and those in mourning

A voice of reason

This entire corner of the state is deeply tied to that university in one way or another.....I haven't left work yet, but I don't even want to really because I know the feel that will be in ther air when I drive through town.

So true; I have so many connections to Tech - my parents don't live that far up the road, I went there during high school for various geekly pursuits, applied and was accepted there for college, know lots and lots of people who went there... it's gotta be just overwhelming to a community like Blacksburg and the surrounding areas.

My thoughts are with the whole Tech community.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[VTmotoMike08 0]

First, I want to say that I did not read this whole previous thread but thanks for all the support.

But I know I speak for a lot of fellow VT students when I say that I am offended by the negative way that the media (especially CNN) has shown our police and our school president. Really, if you think about what has to be done to notify 26,000 students about shutting down a huge campus, I think their response time was a fast as could ever be expected. But if you listen to CNN, they make it sound like our cops sat on their asses and ate donuts for a couple hours first then sent an email. It not like they could have a cop with a laptop go to every reported crime scene and send out a warning, it has to be confirmed, go thru university relations and a host of other steps before it can be sent out to students and I am glad for that because I dont want to be warned with information that has yet to be fully confirmed.

Thousands of students, including myself, were already on our way to campus when this started developing and short of word of mouth or cell phones, there would have been no way for us to know what was going on before we got there and saw the swarm of police cars. In any event, it would likely take more than those two hours to evacuate campus anyway and traffic would be chaotic and people would be walking which would not be a good idea with a gunman on the loose. A lock down also could not be implimented in a matter or mintes, these things take time to get the word out.

It just angers me that some people really want to blame our campus officials when we know they were doing everything in their power to keep us safe. It is easy to say in retrospect, why didnt we do this or that but you have to consider all the steps that go into a situatuon like this and what it takes to impliment an evacuation or lockdown. Last night I was talking to my roomate, and we are considering sending a letter to the school president saying that we think he did a good job handling this. Im sure he would appreciate it after a day when everyone is saying he did a poor job with out knowing all the facts.

Also, in response to:
"I don't see why an educational facility should be expected to provide councilling. If people need help they should seek it themselves privately . Then the money could be better spent on educational needs."

It would be nice if everyone was emotionally stable or could at least have someone else to go to besides a hired counselor but that is simply not the case. Not that everyone who goes to a counseling center is crazy but there is a lot of confused people out there with no where else to go and if a campus counseling center helps them to get their brain in gear and be a more productive citizen once they get out of school, then I think it is money well spent. I have never been to the Cook Counseling Center at VT but I am glad it is there to help those who may need it today or any other day.

I am furthermore certain that it represents a neglidgably (sp?) small part of this school's massive budget. I would agree that the athletics dept is the place to look if you want to cut funds but do that and you also will get reduced alumni donations. But that is not the issue now.


HOKIE PROUD
-Mike

[skydivermom 0]

Absolutely horrifying!

I feel so bad for the families and friends.

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[VTcnix 0]

Very well said Sweetpea.. it makes me sick how this so quickly dissolved into pointing fingers and politics... many fellow students, friends, parents, daughters, brothers, sisters just lost their lives way too early. I wish that people would let everyone have some peace before trying to find the "most interesting" angle to take on the story... Now is not the time to push your new "campus security plan" or your gun platform

[keka 0]

thx for your post Sweetpea...I know the media does exaggerate most of the times.
I'm glad that you are fine and I will keep all the students that got hurt and killed on my prayers.

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
PMS#551
I love my life :)

[PLFXpert 0]

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I am offended by the negative way that the media (especially CNN) has shown our police and our school president.

The Today show, this morning, spent their entire air-time dedicated to the events that occurred at VT. I thought both sides/opinions were well-covered but you might be pleased to know--if anything--I think it favored your sentiment (which was my initial and still is my sentiment as well--but this is only based on what information I've seen/heard/read thus far).

Regardless of the details & debates yet to come, right now my main concern is for the students involved. Watching several of them speak to the Today show cast was heartbreaking. It was obvious they were all still in a state of shock and were eerily calm answering questions. My heart goes out to them.

And I'm happy to hear our fellow VT skydivers are OK.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Rosalita 0]

Everyone at VT is in my prayers.

[debussyschild 0]

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Jamie!

I'm a new member of the club, was on campus for the whole 4/16 shoot out, and I knew EXACTLY who you were talking about. But, Jamie's got the grades. He was (not knowing it at the time) just saving his ass that day. All the VT Skydivers are awesome people. I'm so glad that none of them were taken away prematurely that day, otherwise I may never have gotten the chance to meet them. God Bless.

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will long to return."