Updated: VA Tech - 21 Dead, 21 Wounded

PJM update via Fox broadcast - 32 dead. That number reported here as well. I suspect it'll go up with almost 20 hospitalized.

And still more: ABC is saying 25 29 dead with toll expected to rise. Also video here via ABC main page

Still more via MSNBC

In TV news reports, witnesses described the gunman as a young Asian man.

Injured occupants are carried out of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. on Monday, April 16, 2007. (The Roanoke Times / Alan Kim)

Link below from the diebar of the Hokie sports blog:

Shootings close campus; gunman deceased

04/16/2007, Updated 12:40 p.m.
Two shootings on campus today have left 22 confirmed dead, including students.

Families wishing to reunite with students are suggested to meet at the Inn at Virginia Tech. The university is planning a convocation for tomorrow at noon at Cassell Coliseum for the university community to come together to begin to deal with the tragedy.

Counseling is available in the Bowman Room in the Merriman Center (part of the athletic complex) for employees who seek assistance following todayÕs events.

All faculty and staff have been released and asked to go home effective immediately.

Good lord.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people and wounding another 21 before he was killed, police said.

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

Comments

[bloodrage bob]

betetr questions, hokie girl are why should law-abiding american citizens - taxpayers all - going to school at Va Tech have to cower inside their dorm room when under fire? why should their only chance at salvation be "if an armed cop comes along to protect them"? why should they have to need "an armed guard on every door"?

cops screw up, hokie girl. a LOT. what if they don't get the call to go protect the unarmed students? what if they go to the wrong dorm? what if - as happened at columbine - what if they're more interested in their OWN safety, and prefer to take cover and defend THEMSELVES, instead of putting themselves at risk by standing in the door of a room full of unarmed people, thus making themselves a perfect target?

what if they're $9-an-hour rentacops who decide dying ain't worth $9 an hour, and the run away?

what then? what do the 'normal people' do THEN?

[imaginewhirledpeas]

Hokie, tell us then where the middle is? It is very easy to arm chair quarterback what happened this morning, blame police for a poor response, etc. Something similar happened near me, a nut murdered his off campus girl friend. The knee jerks were all over themselves blaming campus cops for not protecting the girl....off campus...How did the guy get into the dorm in the first place? You likely dont remember when guys weren't allowed past the lobby of the women's dorm on any campus........these sorts of things, as well as a few rapes and otehr crimes didn't occur...in the dorms...back then

[bloodrage bob]

whoops. my bad, charles. apologies.

[southdakotaboy]

Hokie Girl has a great point people, there needs to be some really hard questions about what went on for those two hours. Some one dropped the ball on this and we need to find out who and why. If it was an honest mistake or breakdown in communication thats one thing. If on the other hand it was some pc crap about not wanting to upset some group of people then someone needs to go to jail.

[charles]

no worries bob

[imaginewhirledpeas]

SDB, I used to wonder how Sitting Bull hid 10000 indians from Custer...until I drove through the Dakotas and Montana........The guy had 2600 acres and a butt load of buildings to run between.......Have to agree the whole campus shoulda been locked down with the 1st 911 call.

[hokie girl]

OK Bob--Let's look at this case only right now and not deal in what if's? The fact is that the police were dispatched to the right dorm at 7:15 AM where there were 4 wounded and 1 dead on the scene. AND NO GUNMAN THERE...GUNMAN GONE...WHERE??? He was gone, on the loose and the students get an email saying a gunman is on the loose??? WTF, man? If they had locked down that campus without any hesitation, alot more people could be alive right now. About 30 of them to be exact.

I just hope to God that we don't figure out where he was for two hours based on a blood trail of bodies yet to be found.

[imaginewhirledpeas]

I dont think anyone disagrees with you there hokie

[Arthur Pendragon]

Fox is reporting that the shooter's name is George Allen and he wanted to "kill Macacas". Developing hot...

[Hokie Girl]

Arthur--
You are too funny...If I weren't mourning this awful, tragic moment in history, I'd be making jokes right along with you. Of course, I'd then have to burn in hell beside you and well, that would suck.

[Arthur Pendragon]

Why are you rednecks always condemning people to hell? Better question, what kind of 'mourner' hangs out on silly websites like this?

[templar knight]

Excellent points, hokie girl. But here are the instructions I have given all my children. If you hear a gunshot, suspect a gunshot, hear a rumor about a gunshot, go home or to a safe place. Run as fast as you can, get out of there, do not pass go, do not collect $200, just get the hell out of there. DO NOT GO TO A CLASSROOM AND GET CAUGHT WITHOUT AN ESCAPE ROUTE. Dad will deal with teachers, administration, etc. at a later time.

[imaginewhirledpeas]

good advice tk, sounds like something I would have told my kids.

[imaginewhirledpeas]

hokie; I personally prefer redneck girls to the kind of bigoted asshole who would make racist jokes over the bodies of dead kids..........

[templar knight]

Best questions, why are you liberal assholes coming here if this website is "silly", and how does it feel to be a worm, Artey?

[Purple Avenger]

"As if this idiot could have killed 21 people with his bare hands."

Guns make noise, knives don't. How many DOA's could you whack in restrooms with a knife and pack into stalls before someone noticed?

More than 21.

[imaginewhirledpeas]

"There have also been mass killings that may have been unintended, at least in terms of formal premeditation to kill many people. In 1990, Julio González set fire to a New York City nightclub after having a fight there with his girlfriend. Eighty-seven people died in the blaze (Gonzalez's girlfriend survived)."

[bloodrage bob]

pls don't misunderstand, hokie girl. i mean no disrespect to you or the Va Tech dead. and you're right: somebody screwed up BIG TIME when they made the call to 'carry on' at 7:15. some educational bureaucrat or law enforcement bureaucrat made a *horrible* call, and 25 or 30 more folks died because of it.

but that's sort of my point: people will ALWAYS make bad calls. screwing up is an integral part of human nature; and the higher up you go on the decision-making food chain, the bigger the screwups get.

in essence, those dead people weren't only killed by a murderous asshole: they were killed by **someone other than themselves making their self-defense decisions for them**. if they were allowed to carry, as the constitution clearly states they can, they'd have had at least a fighting chance.

instead, they were doomed the moment decisions were made for them. when they identify the idiot who made the bad call, he/she will be vilified; fired; maybe sued. but he/she will still be able to go home at the end of the day. those he/she helped kill won't. 1 or 2 handguns in the hands of the students being shot at *might* have saved many lives. maybe not, but there'd have at least been a chance.

in the Va Tech 'gun free' zone, they had no hope at all.

[Hard Right]

Northerner, I don't care what a 3rd world peasant like you thinks. You and your country are irrelevant and your stupidity has shown why.

Arthur P-you are a typical liberal asshole. With any luck one of your friends or familly members will be a victim and then we'll see how funny you think it is.

[imaginewhirledpeas]

Now we hear the campus cops are unarmed?????????????????????????

[Kelvin]

It's funny how backward clowns like Hard Right (possibly the gayest handle out there) talking about '3rd world peasants' and 'irrelevance' seeing as he supports a war that is being lost to a bunch of '3rd world peasants' and is thus making his president and his party 'irrelevant'.

[Hard Right]

Kelvin, you're just another delusional leftard. Just because the thought of America losing in Iraq gives you wood, doesn't mean we are losing. As for irrelevant, we'll see who is irrelevant come 2008-and I don't think you'll like the answer. As usual though you'll probably poop your diaper and scream the Reps stole another election like the rest of the leftwing babies.

[Hard Right]

BTW, calling me gay doesn't bother me. I'm not, but I'm past being offended by it. Being an adult allows me to shrug off the insults of cowards like Kelvin who will never say such things to my face-or anyone's face for that matter.

You know, Kelvin really sounds like Little Bitch in Stamford.

[bloodrage bob]

it IS odd that folks like kelvin/all his other sockpuppet alter egos, the ones constantly pushing the gay agenda as hard as they can; the ones who claim to 'fight for the queers!'; the ones who constantly whine about how homophobic conservatives are....

it IS odd that he'd choose to use the proud and honorable word "gay" as an insult. hypocrisy? or have they just been lying all this time?

[southdakotaboy]

Kelvin, I'm still waiting... that's right change the subject when you lose. You are so dumb its funny.

[BobInStamford]

Greetings redneck heroes! I have just returned from a hard day of earning money (unlike you degenerate losers who sit on these boards all day). Any talk of whether the gunman was a 'muslime'? Any talk of how all kids should all carry guns?

Surge on, patriots!!

[imaginewhirledpeas]

yawn....B/S is back from standing in line at the unemployment office......Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Hokie Girl]

Overwhelming compassion there Bob. If people searching for information regaurding a tragedy that claimed nearly 40 lives and are trying like hell to make some sence of this are 'degenerate losers who sit on these boards all day', then sign me up for my "board loser badge".

[BobInStamford]

Oh yes 'Hokie Girl' (a name incredibly fitting, no doubt) you can get a badge. Now how about you and the rest of the losers get jobs, huh??

[Hokie Girl]

Actually, Bob, I would have been attending classes today to prepare myself for the job you speak of but you see, the classes were cancelled on my campus today because NEARLY 40 PEOPLE HAVE DIED HERE.

On another note Bob, you seem to be a bit of an unemotional tool. Bad shift at MickyD's?

[southdakotaboy]

Hokie Girl is a racist homophobe who could pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel. You shouldn't listen to a thing he says.

[hokie girl]

How did I become a racist and a homophobe? And why would I pour piss from a boot anyway?

[imaginewhirledpeas]

hokie, Dakota wasn't referring to you. He was telling you about BS. And of course you would pour piss out of a boot to avoid walking around in piss all day...........Maybe you need a better college ;-)

[hokie girl]

Which would lead me to ask why there is piss in the boot to begin with? I can also assure you that had a boot been pissed in, it wouldn't be walked in ever again. But that's a discussion for another day.

AS FOR NEEDING A BETTER COLLEGE...ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO KNOCK VT RIGHT NOW? Sooooo not right. Healing people.

[BobInStamford]

Each one of you dopes is more stupid than the next. Surge on, geniuses!!!

[imaginewhirledpeas]

I've no idea why anyone would piss in their own boots, someone elses maybe. Nor have I an idea why one would need to read the instructions for emptying the boot written on the heel. Of course I'm not REALLY poking VT. It just seems like a quality school would have students who would piss in their boots.........

[imaginewhirledpeas]

Oooops: I meant to say "a quality school would NOT have students who would piss in their boots"

[bloodrage bob]

make sure ya take careful notes, class. quite recently, we've had representatives from ONE political party declare that 'to be gay' is a horrible, hideous insult; and then mock the dead at Va Tech as "losers".

pay close attention, hokie girl: even though "kelvin", and "stamford bob" are the same person, (you DID notice how kelvin ran away when confronted, while bob popped up at *exactly the same time*, right?), even though he/she's just a gutless sockpuppet, the contemptible insults came from......the liberal.

that's right: the LIBERAL, entirely in character, acted like the piece of shit he/she is. it wasn't the racist, homophobe conservatives doing that. make of that what you will.

[imaginewhirledpeas]

BB, I've not only noticed how very similar Stamford and Kelvin are but Ziffy can sound awfully like them as well.
Anyway, we may have lost hokie for a while, even as I thought I was going to deliver a smile on an otherwise horrid day. Maybe we'll see her later.

[BobInStamford]

You rednecks love your conspiracy theories. Sorry, unlike you trailer park losers, I have a JOB to go to every day that requires my full attention. I can only check in with you mouthbreathers before 9:30 an after 4:00. Liberal or conservative, you fools are the dregs of this nation. Surge on, cannon fodder!!!

[imaginewhirledpeas]

0930-1600? Hokie may have been right. That sounds like a shift at Mickey D's. Can't imagine much real work in Stamford and there isn't much time there to make it to NYC. I bet it's a real important position like working the drive through. Keep your 40 cent slice o' cheese dingus.

[BobInStamford]

That's right, redneck, i work at McDonalds. Because there are no jobs in Stamford. Back to work, ditchdigger!

[templar knight]

Yep, we dug a ditch over the past few weeks, and what do you know, we're getting 45 bopd out of it, through a 7/16 choke that is. Now that's some successful ditchdigging. Let me see, at $63 a barrel, 45 barrels per day, well, you do the math, Bob.

[Hokie Girl]

OK--Now I get it...bi-polar blogging. Bob-go away and tell one of your more sympethetic personalities to come out and play for awhile. You can come back later when the sting of today begins to subside. Not that we aren't ready to dispute your easily disputable arguments, it's just too raw to do it now.

[Phoenix]

Bob,

Do you have a friend with a front-end loader to come pick you up for work every day?

I bet not. He'd dump you fast for whining about the oh-so-cold metal chilling your fat ass and smudging your lace panties.

I bet you have a GMC Pacer. When you get in it, the right wheels come off the ground, right? Tough steering, eh?

heh... it gets 3 mpg with Lard Ass driving.

[bloodrage bob]

(beams proudly) now THAT'S how you handle a contemptible, POS liberal scumbucket like 'stamford bobbie', hokie girl!

notice how he/she slithered away when vigorously confronted? or would it be more proper to say "ran away like a little bitch"?

they DO that, you know.

[Phoenix]

'slithered' is right. But nothing stops him, BB. He has no conscience. So sickening. I'm not for banning people, but I'd make an exception for that POS. I don't even have words.....

[Fred Beloit]

I also think the BoobinBridgeport is King Arthur (Arthur Pendragon). They sure write very similarly.

[BobInStamford]

Phoenix checks in at 3:30 AM. Go talk to your cats, fat lady. What a life. And to the rest of you rednecks, get jobs!

[BobInStamford]

Just saw that 'ran away' comment. Sorry, bloody ass bob - I have a job and a life. Can't sit on message boards with losers like you and phoenix all night. Get a job, loser.