PDA

View Full Version : Virginia Tech Shootings



Ive always been a dreamer
04-16-2007, 12:41 PM
This is a real tragedy here in my home state. I just went downstairs for lunch and the TV in our cafeteria had this on "Breaking News." I am posting a link to CNN. Just while I was typing this, the report has been updated. When I first started typing, they were reporting 1 person killed and at least 17 wounded. Just moments ago, CNN updated their site and the latest report is that at least 20 people are dead. I'm pretty sure they are mostly or all students. I know a lot of friends that have children and grandchildren at the University and I haven't been able to reach anyone. Everyone please keep us in your thoughts. This comes on the heels of a bomb threat at the University on Friday.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html

sodascouts
04-16-2007, 01:04 PM
I will do so. Absolutely horrifying. Why do people do these kind of things?!

glenneaglesfan
04-16-2007, 02:50 PM
I heard about this when I got in from work. What an appalling tragedy. I wondered if it was near you, Kay, and am even more saddened to hear that some of your friends have students there. Please God none of them have been killed, but what grief for those families that have been affected.

Tightening gun laws does not seem to be the answer as we have found after the Dunblane killings. There are now more unlicensed guns than ever in Britain, and in parts of London recently there have been a series of gun and knife killings involving young teenagers. I just don't know what we can do to prevent these tragic events.

Molly
04-16-2007, 03:14 PM
Kay, I thought of you immediately. It's hard not to be affected by something of this magnitude. How terrifying and horrible.

I'm sure we're all thinking about or praying for the kids and the families and everyone touched by this.

Keep us updated, Kay.

Glennsallnighter
04-16-2007, 05:40 PM
Hey, Dreamer, what an awful event. I've just put CNN and am beginning to see the magnitude of it. We will keep you, your families and friends in our thoughts and our prayers.

Freypower
04-16-2007, 06:22 PM
I instantly thought 'Kay is in Virginia'. This is horrendous, reminiscent of what happened in Tasmania in 1996 when 35 people were shot.

My thoughts are with everyone and their families at this tragic time.

freyfanatic
04-16-2007, 07:17 PM
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone and their families

Ive always been a dreamer
04-17-2007, 12:09 AM
Thanks everyone for your kind words and thoughts. It has been a very long day. As most of you probably know, there are now 33 casualties, and over 20 wounded in this senseless tragedy. I still have three friends that I haven't heard from that have children at the school. The names of the victims have not been released, so the waiting for news has been pretty excruiating. Thankfully, the children of my friends that I have heard from are safe, although they are, obviously, very shaken. Hopefully, we will get more information tomorrow.

Mrs Frey
04-17-2007, 02:08 AM
I'm so sorry to read about this tragedy, Dreamer. My thoughts and prayers are with you and everyone touched by this horrific event. The crime rate in South Africa, as I'm sure you've heard, is quite high, and we know what it's like to live in fear of what could happen from day-to-day.

All this slaughtering of human life - what for? What is our world coming to?? As cliched as that might sound, it has never been more relevant.

sodascouts
04-17-2007, 09:22 AM
All this slaughtering of human life - what for? What is our world coming to?? As cliched as that might sound, it has never been more relevant.

Very true. I was watching news channels until the wee hours last night while I was finishing grading. There was one segment where a girl was being interviewed only a short time after the police had told her that her friend, whom she had been inquiring after all day, was one of the victims. It was hard to watch. I can't imagine having to LIVE it.

Glennsallnighter
04-17-2007, 09:49 AM
Unbelievable... It doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

Brooke
04-17-2007, 09:52 AM
Such a senseless tragedy!

Kay, I'm keeping you and your friends in my thoughts and prayers, too.

timfan
04-17-2007, 11:49 AM
I haven't replied sooner because simply i haven't known what to say! First off Kay I am keeping you, your friends and all the people of Virginia in my thoughts at this great time of tragedy.

I was shocked to hear about the shootings yesterday! Shocked doesn't begin to descibed my feelings actually.. heartbroken and scared is more like it. I kept thinking.. how I WOULD FEEL being a student if that happened at my college ( i am currently in part time studies at college) It just makes me shudder.

I continue to ask the qustion which everyone is asking WHY? But there must be a reason for this... even if it is just to show the Virigina Tech Community and the world at large that we should be grateful for every day we have!

sodascouts
04-17-2007, 01:13 PM
Some of you know that I have a sideline as a tutor to several Korean students in order to boost my income. Today, I saw two of them, and all they could talk about was how upset and ashamed they were that the shooter was Korean. They were concerned that they would suffer prejudice. I reassured them that I didn't think students would treat them any differently, but it's just one more of the effects of the tragedy that are being felt all over the country.

Maleah
04-17-2007, 01:28 PM
I, like TF, hadn't responded sooner because I didn't know what to say. I was, and still am, speechless. There is no respect for a human life anymore. I can only imagine what God must think looking down....watching people take others lives into their own hands. How sad is it that just because one person has issues of some sort, they deem it necessary in their own minds to take the life of a complete stranger to them? It angers me and saddens me so much.

Dreamer, I'm so sorry that you, your friends, and their children and all the other families had to go through this. My prayers are with all of the families involved and even those who weren't. Sometimes it impacts those around just as much as those who were there.

It's truly sad what this world has become and scary to think of what's still to come. :(

glenneaglesfan
04-17-2007, 05:02 PM
Oh God, what can anyone say. It's so awful. 32 innocent lives lost, and so many families having to cope with grief.

Kay, I do hope you hear news from your friends soon, and know that we are all thinking of them, and all the friends and relatives of those confirmed as casualties. I cried for them tonight.

Nancy, it's going to be very hard for your Korean students, but in the aftermath of the London bombings last year most people were very considerate to their Muslim colleagues, and I would hope that the same common sense will apply.

DonFan
04-17-2007, 11:53 PM
I have a tendency not to watch the news when I am on vacation, so I was so upset when I heard about the shootings. What a senseless tragedy! It just breaks my heart to think about the students who lost their lives, and their poor families.

Ive always been a dreamer
04-18-2007, 10:01 AM
Hi all - I just wanted to again to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for the families affected by this nightmare. Last night when I got home I did not have any electricity. We've had pretty strong winds the last few days because of the Noreaster and apparently this caused something to knock our power out. The power never came back on until sometime in the wee hours of the morning, so I was unable to post last night. Anyway, I did get an update on one more of my friends and, thankfully, their child is safe as well. I still have no news on the other two families that I know. I am going on the hope right now that no news is good news. My niece had a bomb threat at her high school yesterday, and I heard on the news this morning that there was another bomb threat at Virginia Tech a short while ago.

It really does make you wonder what in the world is going on here. These are quiet communities where supposedly nothing ever happens. It tore at my heart Monday night when I saw a student from the Middle East being interviewed, and he said he left the Middle East and chose to go to school in Blacksburg, Va. to get away from all the violence. Nancy, I feel so sorry that your Korean students are now feeling fear and shame because of the acts of one deranged individual.

And BTW, I think the new forum is a great idea for these more serious topics. Hopefully, we won't need to post topics like this very often though.

EasyFeeling
04-18-2007, 01:24 PM
I haven't been here for a while.
I've heard these terrible news on the radio. I don't know what to say to this. :?
Kay, just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you and your friends.

glenneaglesfan
04-19-2007, 08:41 AM
Kay, I hope by now that you have heard from your other friends. Having to cope with a power cut as well must have been meant for some anxious moments. Please let us hope that nothing as bad as this happens again.

sodascouts
04-19-2007, 09:27 AM
Today, I looked around my classrooms for possible escape routes if such a thing should happen here at Purdue. I'm going to send out an e-mail with my emergency plans to my students. How sad that we have to do such things!

Ive always been a dreamer
04-19-2007, 12:19 PM
It is such a shame that you have to do this Nancy, but, it is very good to have a plan just the same. The Virginia Tech tragedy has hit closer to home for me than any other event that I can think of. However, I do have a little bit of good news to report. I have finally learned that both of my other friends children are safe. I found out about one last night. I was really becoming concerned about my last friend even though most of the victims names have been released. I finally learned a short while ago through a mutual friend of ours that everyone is okay. The reason that no one has been able to reach them is because they are away on a cruise to Bermuda. All of my friends children have chosen to remain at the school to remember their slain peers and teachers and to be close to their friends. They feel the need to be together to support each other during this sad time.

While I am, obviously, very relieved that everyone I know is safe, I can't imagine the agony that those who were not so lucky are going through.

EasyFeeling
04-19-2007, 02:51 PM
Oh, I'm glad to hear the children of your friends are ok, Kay.

Molly
04-19-2007, 04:55 PM
Nancy, I think it's really smart of you to think about things such as escape routes and protecting yourself and the students. It's a sad statement about the world we live in that we even have to consider such things. "Bomb threat drills" or "how to respond in case someone starts shooting in your school" plans are things that have been practiced in my son's former high school for years. I was always amazed how casual the boys were in telling us "Oh,yeah, we had a bomb threat drill at school today", like it was no big deal. It was just part of their life the way fire drills were part of ours when we were kids.

glenneaglesfan
04-20-2007, 06:12 PM
Yes, Nancy, it seems like a sensible course to plan escape routes. It sounds like Molly's sons' colleges have got it sussed. It's almost unimaginable trying to evacuate a hospital.

Edited to add: I missed the end off this post. I meant to add that there was a fire alarm at the hospital where I work, and the staff did try and evacuate most of the patients who could manage the stairs (just one flight). Fortunately it was a false alarm, but it's frightening to think what might happen in a real emergency.

Ive always been a dreamer
04-22-2007, 01:31 PM
On Friday, some of us at work went to a memorial for the Va. Tech victims that was held in a park adjoining the VCU campus. Many similar services were held simultaneously across the state. It was probably the most touching memorial service that I have ever been a part of. I left it feeling very moved and sad. But, at the same time, I was very glad I went, and really did feel a sense of closure.

It does truly make your heart ache to think that one sick person was able to cut short the lives of so many talented and promising individuals. Although there families and friends will have many difficult days ahead, I hope they can find some comfort in knowing that their loved ones will never be forgotten.

sodascouts
04-22-2007, 08:34 PM
I'm glad you - and I'm sure others as well - could achieve some sense of closure with that service, dreamer. They even had some services in other states, including Indiana. It truly has touched the nation.

Glennsallnighter
04-23-2007, 04:19 AM
The victims and their families were also prayed for at most masses and religious services over here yesterday.