A gunman walked into a dorm at Virginia Tech University early this morning, lined students against a wall and started shooting.
BLACKSBURG, Va.  At least 22 are dead after a shooting at Virginia Tech University Monday morning.
Campus police said there was only one shooter and he is now dead. They are unsure if the shooter was a student.
“Today the university was struck by a tragedy we consider of monumental proportions,” Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said during a press conference shortly after noon. “I cannot begin to convey my own personal sense of loss over this senseless, incomprehensible, heinous act.”
Steger said school officials are notifying victims’ next if kin, and state police and the FBI are still investigating the various crime scenes. They are still trying to identify all the victims. The university will set up counseling centers for students and faculty.
Apparently, the shooter went one dorm and then another. There are multiple stories swirling around and people trying to answer questions when no one has any real information. So rumors are all over the place.
The story is unfolding …..
“We’re all locked in our dorms surfing the Internet trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Aimee Kanode
Virginia Tech freshman
UPDATE - 1:36 p.m. ET: Reports that there are now 25 fatalities and the number is expected to rise.
UPDATE - 1:39 p.m. ET: The news is now reporting that there are 29 fatalities.
UPDATE - 1:41 p.m. ET: 32 people are confirmed dead. 28 are being treated for critical injuries.
UPDATE - 1:51 p.m. ET: Reports are that there was a two hour lapse between two sets of shootings.
UPDATE - 2:00 p.m. ET: Federal authorities confirm this to be the worst shooting in American history.
From Washinton Post
The worst mass slaying in U.S. history occurred Oct. 16, 1991, at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. George Hennard rammed his truck into the cafeteria and opened fire on the lunchtime crowd, killing 22 people before turning his gun on himself and taking his own life.
UPDATE - 4:00 p.m. ET: President Bush is speaking in reaction to this horrific tragedy. The nation mourns.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler explains how a ‘gun-free’ campus could have something like this happen. Gun Control Laws Claim Another 21 32 Victims. Common sense, really! My children went to school with guns and know how to defend themselves.
UPDATE - 7:00 p.m. ET: The gunman has not yet been identified. His fingerprints don’t match any on record, which means he did not obtain the guns legally. He did not have any identification on him and he shot himself in the face so that he is not recognizable. He is only identified as ‘Asian’.
UPDATE - 8:00 p.m. ET: Gunman is identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa. No other information on his identity at this time.
On going updates at:High Desert Wanderer, A Blog for All, Hot Air, The Sandbox, Wizbang, Captain’s Quarters,
Fausta has link to a live stream.
Trackposted to Pet’s Garden Blog, Perri Nelson’s Website, third world county, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein… has no mercy, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, The Bullwinkle Blog, , High Desert Wanderer, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
*UPDATE* Reported 32 Killed in Virginia Tech Shooting…
Classes have been canceled today as a scary situation develops in Blacksburg:Shootings in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech left at least one person dead and seven or eight more wounded Monday before police arrested the suspected gunman, officials…
BlackMonday
BSC: Good description
This is truey a sad day for our Country…
AubreyJ………
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims… their families and friends.
Tragic Day as Gunman Kills at least 32 at Virginia…
This is being reported as the worst shooting in American History……
Tragedy at Virginia Tech…
Up until my husband came home, I had not turned on the Fox News. And, this is certainly not the norm for me, when I usually watch the news most of the day. But, today,for some reason, my television never got tuned into Fox News, that is, until my hus…..
Va Tech Shooting: HuffPo Chimes In…
By now, most people know about the Virginia Tech shooting. If you want some good info, check out Blue Star Chronicles, Hot Air, and the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. You can also follow the trackbacks at Hot Air. There is little that I can add beyon…
NO MORE GUNS!
GET THEM OUT OF SOCIETY!
THE NRA SUCKS!
I am,
George Vreeland Hill
My heartfelt sympathy and prayers go out to the parent’s of these children who were killed. I too, have lost my only child and it is the most difficult painful time in life.
These parents, siblings and families need to be uplifted in our thoughts. Indeed– yesterday was a dark day in America.
33 of America’s finest killed by some gun-stroking sicko. It’s war waged by subhuman filth against decent people. How many more?
It didn’t take long before the anti-Second Amendment liberal lunatics emerged, eh? Wait a minute! If you suspect terrorists on a commercial airliner and they’re removed - the six Muslim Imams - SUE you and the passengers and the airlines with ACLU, CAIR and NAACP backing? Sorry folks, guns don’t KILL people - PEOPLE kill people. Cars don’t KILL people, the DRUNK DRIVERS in their cars kill people. Wasn’t it last spring that a MUSLIM student drove his car into the University of North Carolina students? God bless the Virginia Tech students, faculty and community. We - the 31 Red States of America - that do pray and know how to pray, will continue to pray. God Bless our First AND Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Coincidentally, April 16 was the day of Kristalnacht in Germany when the Holocaust began.
IMHO there are 33 martyrs here. Seung-Hui Cho is a victim too, belive it or not. It’s amazing no one noticed that he may have been showing symptoms of hikikomori probably since his early teens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
However, the closest in DSM-IV manual is avoidant behavior disorder.
Another good source on this topic is Michael Zielenziger’s Shutting Out the Sun.
The recent firing rampage is indeed really shocking. I think this shooting incident is both horrifying, yet enlightening. It is horrifying as the gunman had taken the lives of thirty-odd innocent individuals. But why enlightening, some people may question. I personally feel that it is enlightening as this incident brings about the urgent need to review fun control laws in USA. I feel that stricter and greater controls should be imposed on gun usage, so as to safeguard the lives of the people in the United States of America.
The United States of America and our FREEDOMS are defended by our U.S. Armed Forces and WE THE PEOPLE -
U.S. Constitution Amendment II states (1791) “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” God blesses the USA and Israel and we will ‘lock and load’ in order to protect our nations and preserve our freedoms against ALL enemies foreign and domestic, including the wacko Islamomaniacs! We don’t give a rat’s behind what the world thinks of us - period.