Just to let you all know that the biggest school shooting in US history just happened today. They say that 28 are dead (so far); more in the hospital. Just turn on any TV news.

Sounds like terrorism to me, and not coincidentally, it's Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel.

DPH

**Just heard it on the radio here, it's absolutely awful.

**

There seems to be a reporting difference between Canada and the US. The 2 national Canadian news channels are reporting that 28 or 29 are dead so far. The US is still saying just 22.

Gunman Kills 32 in Va. Tech Shooting

Last Edited: Monday, 16 Apr 2007, 1:42 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 16 Apr 2007, 10:32 AM EDT

A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. The gunman was killed, 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 university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

Some but not all the dead were students. One student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum.

The name of the gunman was not released. It was not known if he was a student.

Up until Monday, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the  8th-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 bloodbath near Littleton, Colo., in 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

After Monday's shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed. The campus was to reopen Tuesday but classes were canceled.

The university set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children at the Inn at Virginia Tech. It also made counselors available and planned a convocation for Tuesday at the Cassell Coliseum basketball arena.

After the shootings, students were told to stay inside away from the windows.

"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 shooting took place.

 Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on the 4th floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her room. Kanode's resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify students to stay put.

 "They had us under lockdown," Kanode said. "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."

Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past
two weeks by authorities but said they have not determined a link to the shootings.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was canceled 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, faces capital murder charges.

I may have misheard, but I think they said 32 here. Either way, it's yet another unnecessary tradegy.

Yeah, I just heard about that.  I really don't know what to say tho. what can you say really that would make any difference?

OMG!

I saw on the news the other day that a kid had publically stated a promise to recreate the Columbine shooting at some univiserty (forgot the name) on the anniversary of it.  I sure hope that this wasn't it! because if it was the police had every chance to prevent it from happening! :(

And from alternative sources:

Virginia School Shooting: Another Government Black-Op?

Early details suggest Columbine-style set-up to justify mass gun control, VA Tech has "blood on their hands.

Paul Joseph Watson & Steve Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, April 16, 2007
   

Early details about the horrific school shooting at Virginia Tech strongly indicate that these events represent a Columbine-style black-op that will be exploited in the coming days to push for mass gun control and further turning our schools into prisons.

Eyewitness Matt Kazee told the Alex Jones Show that it was a full two to three hours after the shootings began that loudspeakers installed around the campus were used to warn students to stay indoors and that a shooter was on the loose.

Quite how the killer was afforded so much time before any action was taken to stop him is baffling, especially considering the fact that the campus, according to Kazee, was crawling with police before the event happened due to numerous bomb threats that had been phoned in last week.

The shootings came three days after a bomb threat Friday forced the cancellation of classes in three buildings, WDBJ in Roanoke reported. Also, the 100,000-square-foot Torgersen Hall was evacuated April 2 after police received a written bomb threat, The Roanoke Times reported.

CNN quoted a student who was outraged at the delay in identifying and stopping the killer.

"What happened today this was ridiculous. And I don't know what happened or what was going through this guy's mind," student Jason Piatt told CNN. "But I'm pretty outraged and I'll say on the record I'm pretty outraged that someone died in a shooting in a dorm at 7 o'clock in the morning and the first e-mail about it — no mention of locking down campus, no mention of canceling classes — they just mention that they're investigating a shooting two hours later at 9:22."

He added: "That's pretty ridiculous and meanwhile, while they're sending out that e-mail, 22 more people got killed."

The details that are beginning to emerge fill the criteria that this could very well be another government black-op that will be used as justification for more gun control and turing our schools into prisons, festooned with armed guards, surveillance cameras and biometric scanning to gain entry.

Ironic therefore it is that Virginia is a concealed carry state and yet Virginia Tech campus recently enforced a policy prohibiting "unauthorized possession, storage or control" of firearms on campus. According to gun rights activists such as Aaron Zelman of Jews For The Preservation of Firearms, VA Tech has "blood on its hands" for disarming the victims who could potentially have defended themselves against the killer.

Initial reports suggested there were two shooters, but the story quickly changed to just one shooter who later killed himself (as happens in almost all these cases) or was shot by police.

Eyewitness accounts describe police hiding behind trees and failing to pursue the killer, while ordering the school to be placed on lockdown so nobody could escape the carnage as the killer picked off his targets with seemingly little interruption from the police.

At the moment, the official death toll is 30, but could rise, making this the deadliest school shooting in history.

If these figures are accurate, the casualty figures surpass those of the school shooting at Columbine in 1999 when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.

It is well documented that disturbing questions remain over the incident at Columbine. It is clear that authorities had prior knowledge of what was going to happen. Observers were in the area hours before the shooting took place. Articles from the Associated Press stated that ballistics from Columbine show that six of the thirteen victims were possibly shot and killed by Jefferson County SWAT.

In addition, it was never properly explained how Klebold and Harris were able to transport over 100 bombs into the school before the shootings began.

In the aftermath of Columbine there were calls for vastly increased gun control laws, more than 15 state legislatures passed significant gun control bills or dropped NRA-supported bills.

In 1996 a similar incident occurred in Dunblane in Scotland where sixteen children and one adult were killed. The resulting inquiry recommended tighter control of handgun ownership, public feeling had turned against private gun ownership, allowing a much more restrictive ban on handguns to pass.

It then emerged that the killer Thomas Hamilton was heavily involved in Freemasonry, as well as running clubs for young boys, a fact which Labour and Tory ministers acknowledged in correspondence to each other. A a 100-year public secrecy order was placed on the documents, along with the majority of other information relating to the case including the police report. There have been allegations that the lengthy closure order was placed on the report after it linked Hamilton to figures in the Scottish establishment, including two senior politicians and a lawyer.

In both the Dunblane and Columbine cases the shooters turned the guns on themselves after the killing spree was over.

We will have more on this story as it unfolds.

they may decide to kill this thread. not a good idea to discuss this here IMVHO. my sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

This is horrible.  There really isn't any place here to discuss this (no more general discussion forum).

Just remember - guns might kill people, but it takes people to pull the triggers.  Gun laws do nothing at all to curb violent human behavior - you'd be amazed at what can be used as a weapon and what can be built independently.  What is needed is some way to recognize the potential and escalation of violent intentions in individuals - this is practically impossible, unfortunately. 

My sympathies to all involved.

31 are dead now, according msnbc.

33 as of 5 p.m. EST US. What's wrong with people today? Whatever happened to kicking the dog? We have had several murders right here in my state of Michigan in the last couple of months. A guy killed and dismembered his wife. A guy got fired and walked into his former office and shot three people. Two years ago, I got home from London only to have terrorists blow up the subway that very week I got home. Is it safe anywhere?

I can't believe there's already stupid-ass conspiracy theories coming out about this; it's only been a few hours.
Please, somebody kill this thread, it's disrespectful towards the victims.

I guess you're right. I'm locking this. I'll ust add that these people's families, as wella s the surviving victims, are in my prayers.