Here’s what I’ve read in various places. Allegedly a guy found his g/f
in bed with another man and then shot and killed them both. Two hours
later he crossed the campus with a weapon and a vest full of magazines
for reloading. He’d walk into a classroom and start shooting, going from
class to class. No verification on the doors being chained shut. He is
dead and probably killed himself.

I’m betting he used a semi auto style rifle-an AK, SKS, or AR-15. Lousy
bastard. He just couldn’t have killed himself, he had to take innocent
people with him.

Comment by Hard Right — 4/16/2007 @ 11:53 am

My guess: DU, Daily Kos, and HuffPo are all crawling with threads
accusing Karl Rove of being behind the shootings, to distract from the
upcoming testimony of Alberto Gonzales

Karl Rove mentioned in such conspiracy context in the comments to the
main post on the subject, on DailyKos == zero.
The number of comments wondering if the shooter was a Muslim and if the
fact that his name is not yet released positively proves that he _was_ a
Muslim, on HotAir and LGF — too many to count.

DU’s got it. And this is now the worst mass shooting in US history.

Pablo, do you suggest that this link means that DUers think that Rove is
behind this, or merely that it will, in fact, take attention from
Gonzales?

Comment by Nikolay — 4/16/2007 @ 12:03 pm

My brother is a student there and the fact is no one knows any more than
what’s on TV. All they know is that the guy was “Asian” and was using
handguns. I grew up there and it’s hard to see pictures of places I’ve
visited dozens of times.

Comment by Rob Turner — 4/16/2007 @ 12:09 pm

Firedoglake From comments:


onelast thought before I go out the door. This may seem callous, but I
suggest pups watch and record FOX on this all day. I can promise they
will give anyone watching more material to back our contention that they
are NOT news and need to be saddled by the FCC. They will time and again
make egregious, thoughtless and plain old made up statements all day
about how this is all the fault of the left. IrishJim says: April 16th,
2007 at 12:00 pm Becauseof a high level of mistrust, I can’t help
wondering if this will somehow play into ABU’s testimony tomorrow.
Wasn’t one of the “Performance” indicators cited, Gun convictions? Okay,
for those of you who doubt the “at least” coding… look at this:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3045574 Headline: At least 29 people
are dead in what may be the biggest mass shooting in modern American
history — and the death toll may rise. I could go on and on…
unfortunatately. This is staged. We need to ask questions. Freedom says:
April 16th, 2007 at 11:03 am This story reaks of a staged event… the
headlines are totally coded as a staged event… … Any time the phrase “at
least” is preceeded before an injured or death count, it’s code (like
graffitti is gang code) as a false flag/black op operation… Here’s the
proof: http://frogsinhotwater.blogspot.com/ Yes, I’ll bet people died,
but these shootings are always timed as distractions… and readers of
Firedoglake know we’re about to have Gonzales in front of Congress
shortly.

UPDATE* Reported 33 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…

Trackback by The Sandbox — 4/16/2007 @ 2:23 pm

Please stop reporting that [name deleted] had anything to do with this.
James is a student at Virginia Tech, the suspect was not. James is
Korean American. Reports are that the shooter was a student from
mainland China, although even that is just a rumour

I don’t think it’s making political hay out of this to simply seek out,
note, and deride, the attempts of *others* to make political hay out of
this.

Sure, attempts of _others_. Not, you know, of yours. One can never stop
deride “others”, the vaguer they are defined the better.
Anyway, to claim that this was a Rove conspiracy one must be mentally
ill. To seek out, note and deride mentally ill people is never a right
thing to do, especially in this context and with such generalizations
(”are all crawling with threads”). My point against you is not
political, but personal. And you’re right in applying that logic to me.
I happen to live now in a country far from yours and where much worse
things happened in schools, so this event doesn’t, in fact, strike home.
I’m sure that all the world was shocked by Beslan, but that was a really
otherworldly horrendous event (more shocking to us, perhaps, because of
the recklessness of our special forces than of the hideousness of
terrorists themselves), while the shooting sprees are seen, from the
safe distance, as just a normal American cultural practice. You don’t
get _shocked_ by the fact that somebody blew up 60 people in Baghdad, do
you?

1) Are people capable of getting guns illegally?

The lonely shooters, being weirdos that they are, probably lack social
skills needed to purchase illegal guns. And the question is not really
about canceling Second Amendment, but about making access to guns harder
for a sick person — would you argue with the fact that this is relevant?

Put another way, would this have been tougher to pull off at, say, a
police station or a firing range?

Do you think that there’s a person that lived on a college campus and
never did anything really insane during all the stay? Do you believe
that people having a gun on the belt would not change the general safety
on campus?

Sure, there’s to lot to discuss here, but to frame it, without any
reservations, the way Malkin and Reynolds do, “this tragedy happened
because students didn’t have guns”, is totally unfair.

Comment by Nikolay — 4/16/2007 @ 4:57 pm
Va. Tech. and the ‘active shooter’…

Let’s start here: the Chinese national, believed to be the gunman that
killed 32 people at the Virginia Tech. campus today before killing
himself, may have been here on a student visa. It seems he argued with
his girlfriend over…

Reports now indicate the shooter was a Chinese national, age 25, on a
F-1 Student Visa.

Patterico might enlighten us on the state of California gun laws, but my
naive understanding of CALIFORNIA gun laws, you must be either a US
citizen or Legal Resident to purchase firearms LEGALLY in the State of
California.

Assumption: that VA has similar requirements.

Assumption 2: Street corners where drugs can be purchased have no such
restrictions.

Wretchard at Belmont Club has a good point: pushing responsibility for
safety UPWARDS to State control and abdicating any responsibility for
your own means things like this.

Note that VT had a shooting nearby last year with several dead. Students
are upset that the “school learned nothing.” Also note that bomb threats
had been made several times over the last two weeks: it’s plausible that
the shooter used them to discern security responses.

You will NEVER keep: drugs, guns, booze out of ANY nation, except North
Korea. Given that we ought to treat people like adults. People 18-19-20
years old can fight and die and make life and death decisions in an
instant in Iraq, Aircraft Carriers, Helicopters, or places like
Afghanistan, Horn of Africa, etc.

We already have Columbin/VT against Pearl MS and Appalachian School of
Law. Enough evidence to see what works (people able to defend
themselves) and what doesn’t (only the cops can defend you).


These Comment were started after they saw The News report

Virginia Tech Campus Reels From Shooting That Leaves at Least 33 Dead
Monday , April 16, 2007

By Liza Porteus


ADVERTISEMENT
Virginia Tech police and administrators struggled to explain late Monday
why the campus was not locked down after a deadly shooting earlier in
the day, and why students were in classrooms two hours later when a lone
gunman entered a campus building and slaughtered 30 people, before
turning a gun on himself.

The man responsible for murdering 32 people — the worst mass-murder
shooting in American history — who carried no ID, remained unidentified
late Monday, police said.

By the end of the spree, 33 people, including the gunman, were dead and
authorities warned the toll could rise because several more were
critically injured.

Students complained that there were no public-address announcements or
other warnings on campus after the first burst of gunfire that left two
dead. They said the first word they received from the university was an
e-mail more than two hours into the rampage — around the time it is
believed that the gunman struck again.

University President Charles Steger said authorities believed that the
shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the
gunman had fled the campus.

"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur,"
Steger said.

He defended the university's handling of the tragedy, saying: "We can
only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You
don't have hours to reflect on it."

Steger said school officials are notifying victims' next of kin, and
state police and the FBI are still investigating the various crime
scenes. Campus police confirmed that the bodies of some of the victims
had not yet been removed, and the process of identifying them was
ongoing.

The university, meanwhile, is setting up counseling centers for students
and faculty.

Steger explained that with 9,000 students living on campus and the more
than 11,000 students commuting, e-mail appeared to be the best way to
communicate the situation.

Steger said authorities at first believed that the shooting at the dorm
was a domestic dispute and that the gunman had fled the campus. "Shock
is an understatement," he said in reference to the shootings.

"The university was struck today with a tragedy of monumental
proportions," Steger said during a press conference shortly after noon.
"The university is shocked and horrified that this would befall our
campus ... I cannot begin to convey my own personal sense of loss over
this senselessness of such an incomprehensible and heinous act."

uReport: E-mail your photos, video to: studiob@ureport.foxnews.com

The Web site for the campus newspaper, The Collegiate Times, reported
that police recovered two 9mm handguns. That report was not yet
confirmed by FOX News, and campus police would not confirm the report
during the afternoon news conference.

The tragedy began unfolding at 7:15 a.m. Monday, when a 911 call came
into the campus police department concerning an incident at West Ambler
Johnston, a residence hall, reporting multiple shooting victims. While
that investigation was under way, a second shooting was reported in
Norris Hall, located at the opposite end of the 2,600-acre campus.

Steger said two people were killed in a dorm room in West Ambler
Johnston in that early shooting.

A little more than two hours later, an unidentified lone gunman entered
Norris Hall, a classroom building used by the Engineering Department,
and methodically executed 30 people before turning a gun on himself.

Initial reports had as many as 28 people wounded and treated at area
hospitals, but Steger revised that number to 15 during his late
afternoon news conference.

Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum said the gunman killed himself.
He said earlier reports about a shooting suspect in custody were not
true, and confirmed that one gunman was dead.

Junior David Jenkins told FOX News he heard screaming in his dorm inside
West Ambler Johnston residence hall Monday morning, but didn't know what
it was. He later heard from other residents that there was a gunman in
the building. Jenkins later heard of the mass shootings at Norris Hall.

"From what I heard, he chained up some of the doors so people couldn't
get in and he basically was just going to every classroom trying to get
in, and just started shooting inside classrooms," Jenkins said.

One of his friends was in a Norris classroom targeted by the gunman,
Jenkins said
FOX News he heard screaming in his dorm inside West Ambler Johnston
residence hall Monday morning, but didn't know what it was. He later
heard from other residents that there was a gunman in the building.
Jenkins later heard of the mass shootings at Norris Hall.

"From what I heard, he chained up some of the doors so people couldn't
get in and he basically was just going to every classroom trying to get
in, and just started shooting inside classrooms," Jenkins said.

One of his friends was in a Norris classroom targeted by the gunman,
Jenkins said.

"He was very fortunate," Jenkins said. "He said every single person in
the room was shot, killed and was in the ground. He laid on the ground
with everyone … he played dead and he was OK."

Flinchum confirmed that some of the Norris Hall doors were chained from
the inside.

Victims were being treated at Montgomery Regional Hospital and Carilion
New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg with gunshot wounds
and other injuries.

President Bush said the "nation is shocked and saddened" by the
shootings.

"Today our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at
Virginia Tech," Bush said. "We hold the victims in our hearts, we lift
them up in our prayers and we ask a loving god to comfort those who are
suffering today."

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives both held a moment of
silence. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who was heading for a meeting in
Tokyo, Japan, for a two-week trade mission, is now returning to the
United States.

"It is difficult to comprehend senseless violence on this scale," Kaine
said. "I urge Virginians to keep these victims and their families in
their thoughts and prayers."

Last August, the campus was closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly
killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy involved in a massive
manhunt. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder
charges.

On April 13, the campus closed three of its academic halls after they
received a letter stating that explosive devices were in the building.
Classes were canceled for the remainder of the day. A bomb threat was
also made against Torgerson Hall on April 2. A $5,000 reward has been
offered for any information on those threats.

"For some reason, this just seemed a little different … it was more than
just a sick joke someone was playing," one student told FOX News,
referring to those bomb threats.

Flinchum said the idea that the bomb threats may be connected to
Monday's shooting is "certainly a possibility we're exploring."

Student Daniel Smith was walking across field heading toward Norris Hall
with his girlfriend when he heard yelling, and then a police officer
whisked the pair off to safety in a patrol car.

"We weren't quite sure but we did see police taking out people who were
heavily hurt," Smith said.

Smith, along with other students, said it was scary enough having a
gunman roaming campus on the first day of classes last year, but between
that, recent bomb threats and Monday's shooting, it's almost too much to
take in.

"I never thought it could actually happen, at a big school like this but
a small community. Growing up with Columbine and 9/11, it hits you in
the heart, but I've never felt this before," said Smith, an engineering
student. "I'm scared to see the list [of the dead victims] when that
list comes out, because I'm bound to know some students on there … it's
tearing at me. I've never had a big loss before. This is terrible."

Freshman Matthew Klim said he hasn't yet heard from one friend who he
knows was in Norris during the shooting.

"We're all just really, really nervous to find out if she's still with
us," Klim said. "It's really hard because coming down here, this has
always been such a safe campus and following the events the first day of
school with the shooting at Blacksburg, then having the two bomb
threats, then this, it's all really hard to deal with."

Virginia Tech student Blake Harrison said he was on his way to class
near Norris Hall when he saw chaos.

"This teacher comes flying out of Norris, he's bleeding from his arm or
his shoulder ... all these students were coming out of Norris trying to
take shelter in Randolph [Hall]. All these kids were freaked out,"
Harrison said.

The students and faculty were barricading themselves in their classrooms
after what one person described as an Asian male in a vest opened fire.

The shooter was "wearing a vest covered in clips was just unloading on
their door, going from classroom to classroom … They said it never
seemed like it was going to stop and there was just blood all over,"
Harrison said.

Matt Merone, a senior, was on his way to campus Monday morning when he
saw a police officer grab a male student who was bleeding from his
stomach area and put him in a police vehicle, presumably en route to a
hospital. Other students were seen jumping out windows to escape the
gunman.

Student Amanda Johnson was walking between Norris and Randolph halls
around 9:45 a.m. when she heard six shots fired.

"I've been target shooting since I was a little kid, so I knew what the
sounds were," said Johnson, who saw a male student jump out of a Norris
Hall window to escape.

"It just seemed like students were trying to figure out any way to get
out of that building as soon as possible," added student Mike O'Brien.

Students said the first e-mail warning they got from the university
about any shootings came more than two hours after the first shots were
fired, around 9:30. By that time, the second shooting had taken place.

"I kind of want to know basically what happened … why school wasn't
closed" after the first shootings, said freshman Kelly Kaskiw. "Lots of
students are confused about that, whether the situation could have been
prevented or not."

Many students didn't check their e-mail before heading to class Monday,
so they didn't read the school's warnings about the first shooting.
Those who did check their e-mail said they stayed put.

"There are police driving throughout the neighborhoods with a
loudspeaker saying, 'This is an emergency, everyone stay inside, we're
looking for suspicious activity," said Brittany Sammon, a senior
Virginia Tech student staying at an apartment off campus. "There's no
one outside at all, there's no traffic, there's nothing … everyone's
doing what they said."

Premeditated Murder?

The FBI joined police on the scene to investigate. Agency spokesman
Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no immediate evidence to
suggest it was a terrorist attack, "but all avenues will be explored."

A senior official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives told FOX News that the agency's response to the Virginia Tech
incident was "immediate" and the bureau is making available all of its
local and national resources, including its crimes lab, to the Virginia
State Police.

Ten ATF agents went to the Virginia Tech campus to assist with weapons
identification. They were collecting shell casings and running some
preliminary tests on scene.

Once the weapon has been identified, they will begin an "urgent trace"
to determine its origins — where it came from, to whom it was registered
and its history of ownership. All material will be sent to the ATF's
national crime lab in Maryland.

The ATF is also assisting with "forensic mapping" of the crime scene — a
painstaking process employed by investigators that 'maps out' the scene
and incident in minute detail.

Former Assistant FBI Director Bill Gavin said if reports that the
shooter chained the doors to Norris Hall are true, that is "definite
proof of premeditation," as is the number of magazines and rounds of
ammunition he apparently had.

"He didn't take that just to shoot one particular person," Gavin said.
"He had to have something going on there that said he was going to shoot
a whole bunch of people at the same time."

All classes were canceled for Monday and Tuesday but campus will open at
8 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Faculty and staff on certain parts of campus were
told to go homeFamilies wishing to reunite with students are suggested
to meet at the Inn at Virginia Tech. School officials are making plans
for convocation Tuesday at noon at Cassell Coliseum.