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Shooting rampage at Va Tech..
- Thread starter JB
- Start date
Miss Kitty
Meow
My prayers are with this community. As the mother of a college student and a reformed worry wart, I was so pleased to see this message from Steven's school. I must admit it helped me a bit, but also reminded me there is really only so much anyone can do to keep tragedies from happening.
To Members of the Mizzou Family:
It is with great sadness that I send and post this message today as we begin to mourn the terrible tragedy that has occurred at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, better known as Virginia Tech. Prior to joining Mizzou, I spent 11 years on the faculty there and can picture in my own mind the emotional devastation and incredible loss that has come to all those associated with that great land-grant university. This afternoon, we lowered the MU flags to half staff and sent a message of condolence and support to President Steger. I anticipate that we will work with our students, faculty and staff in the hours ahead to plan an appropriate campus memorial observance.
I want to send a very personal message to our students, the parents of our students, and the employees of this University. Before any other goals, we place your safety and well-being first. I want to assure you that MU has a campus emergency plan in place, an emergency web site http://mualert.missouri.edu <http://mualert.missouri.edu/> and an excellent campus police department that works closely with local, state and federal law enforcement authorities on an ongoing basis. Preventing and planning for emergencies has become a critical part of university management in the 21st century, and I promise you that it has our complete attention at all times.
Brady J. Deaton
Chancellor University of Missouri-Columbia
To Members of the Mizzou Family:
It is with great sadness that I send and post this message today as we begin to mourn the terrible tragedy that has occurred at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, better known as Virginia Tech. Prior to joining Mizzou, I spent 11 years on the faculty there and can picture in my own mind the emotional devastation and incredible loss that has come to all those associated with that great land-grant university. This afternoon, we lowered the MU flags to half staff and sent a message of condolence and support to President Steger. I anticipate that we will work with our students, faculty and staff in the hours ahead to plan an appropriate campus memorial observance.
I want to send a very personal message to our students, the parents of our students, and the employees of this University. Before any other goals, we place your safety and well-being first. I want to assure you that MU has a campus emergency plan in place, an emergency web site http://mualert.missouri.edu <http://mualert.missouri.edu/> and an excellent campus police department that works closely with local, state and federal law enforcement authorities on an ongoing basis. Preventing and planning for emergencies has become a critical part of university management in the 21st century, and I promise you that it has our complete attention at all times.
Brady J. Deaton
Chancellor University of Missouri-Columbia
Smiling JOe
SoWal Expert
By ADAM GELLER, AP National Writer 7 minutes ago
full story
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as a English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service....
full story
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as a English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service....
Beach Runner
beats on hood
We received a similar letter as parents of a Georgia Tech student. Our president also sent out a letter to our students' parents, as well as to the students, faculty, staff, and administration. I was surprised at how many students were upset about this, even if they didn't know the professor whose son was killed. I thought they'd be too cool to be upset, or in denial due to the feeling of invincibility that kids seem to have (as in, it couldn't happen to me). Beach Jacket was worried; I told her that there might be copycats in the next few days, especially on Friday because of the Columbine anniversary. So I advised her to stay alert and stay connected on Friday for any breaking news. We just bought her a Motorola Q, so she can browse the net or check her email wherever she is.
Smiling JOe
SoWal Expert
Student recalls day when roommate was killed at dorm
They were roommates and best friends and they were planning to meet in their dorm room Monday morning to go to chemistry class together. Emily Hilscher got there first and was killed. Heather Haugh arrived minutes later and became a key figure in the chaos unfolding on the Virginia Tech campus.
Even before she entered the building, Haugh said today, she was pulled aside by police desperate for clues. The information she gave was accurate, but it inadvertently led police to pursue Hilscher's boyfriend while the real shooter was setting up for another attack.
In an interview with The Times, Haugh said she knew of no connection between the killer and her roommate, or any reason why Cho Seung-Hui would have launched his deadly rampage on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall.
"I've never seen him," she said. "I don't know his name. Emily didn't know him, as far as I know."
Haugh said that speculation that the killing spree was triggered by a domestic dispute likely stemmed from the fact that Hilscher's boyfriend was an avid gun user. She said that when she was first questioned by police, "they asked if her boyfriend had a gun or something."
She said she told the authorities that the boyfriend, Karl Thornhill, did have guns and that she and Hilscher had gone to a shooting range with him just a few weeks earlier. But she said she also told police that Hilscher and Thornhill got along well.
"The police asked if they had any problems, and they definitely don't," Haugh said. "He's just torn apart by all this. He's not a violent person at all."
They were roommates and best friends and they were planning to meet in their dorm room Monday morning to go to chemistry class together. Emily Hilscher got there first and was killed. Heather Haugh arrived minutes later and became a key figure in the chaos unfolding on the Virginia Tech campus.
Even before she entered the building, Haugh said today, she was pulled aside by police desperate for clues. The information she gave was accurate, but it inadvertently led police to pursue Hilscher's boyfriend while the real shooter was setting up for another attack.
In an interview with The Times, Haugh said she knew of no connection between the killer and her roommate, or any reason why Cho Seung-Hui would have launched his deadly rampage on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall.
"I've never seen him," she said. "I don't know his name. Emily didn't know him, as far as I know."
Haugh said that speculation that the killing spree was triggered by a domestic dispute likely stemmed from the fact that Hilscher's boyfriend was an avid gun user. She said that when she was first questioned by police, "they asked if her boyfriend had a gun or something."
She said she told the authorities that the boyfriend, Karl Thornhill, did have guns and that she and Hilscher had gone to a shooting range with him just a few weeks earlier. But she said she also told police that Hilscher and Thornhill got along well.
"The police asked if they had any problems, and they definitely don't," Haugh said. "He's just torn apart by all this. He's not a violent person at all."
Beach Runner
beats on hood
Did you hear on The Today Show this AM that the officials are not letting the parents see the bodies of their children -- they will only let them see photos? Apparently they're still working on the investigation, and their are bodies still in the classroom building. This was verified to me by one of my colleagues who spoke on the phone to our colleague whose son was killed at VT.
How awful is that?
How awful is that?
I caught part of the convocation of vt on npr yesterday.
We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness ... We are the Hokies ...
-- Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor, poet, activist
http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/giovanni_transcript.php
We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness ... We are the Hokies ...
-- Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor, poet, activist
http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/giovanni_transcript.php
Sheila
SoWal Insider
Nikki Giovanni was supremely uplifting. What a moment when the, We are the Hokies chant started slowly and almost quietly, then rose the roof as people came to their feet and through their tears, found their voices and smiles broke through. Like the sun shinning after the darkest of clouds had parted.
were you watching? I was listening in the car. wish I could have seen it. I was very moved by giovanni.
Cheering472
SoWal Insider
It was very moving to see.