There have been 33 confirmed student deaths at Virginia Tech University after Cho Seung-Hui, a senior English major, went on a killing rampage before taking his own life at approximately 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Kara LaFleur, a 2006 Fairfield graduate, is currently a graduate student at Virginia Tech and was on campus during the shootings.
Fairfield Associate chaplain Carolyn M. Rusiackas created a Facebook group which included an e-mail LaFleur sent to her friends at the University.
“I’m OK, just very, very shaken,” she said in the e-mail. “I was on campus this morning and was in lock down, lying on the floor of my office to stay away from the windows. I was safely evacuated after noon.”
According to the Associated Press, the shootings began at approximately 7:15 a.m. Monday after a domestic dispute left two people dead at West Ambler Johnston dormitory, which houses 895 students. Two hours later, in a classroom building approximately a half mile away from the original shooting site, Seung-Hui killed 30 more students and proceeded to end his own life.
Seung-Hui moved to the United States from South Korea in 1992 with his family and is currently registered as a resident alien. After the incident, Virginia Tech Vice President Harry Hincker described Seung-Hui as a “loner.”
According to a police statement released Tuesday, a bomb threat was found near the lifeless body of Seung-Hui. The same document said that two previous bomb threats in the past three weeks are believed to be connected to him.
Virginia Tech students spoke out against the University’s inability to notify the campus about the events taking place. After the first killings occurred, campus police mistakenly thought the situation was an isolated incident and incorrectly assumed the gunman had fled campus.
Students were notified to be on the look out for any suspicious activity but were not recommended to enter lock down mode.
Virginia Tech President Charles Steger defended the University’s actions after two students were reported killed in the dorm, and said that administration had “no reason to suspect that any other incident would occur.”
“We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time,” said Steger. “You don’t have hours to reflect on it.”
As Fairfield students tuned in to news reports Monday, the impact on the campus community was felt by students and administration alike.
University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx released a statement on StagWeb offering condolences to Virginia Tech University.
“On behalf of Fairfield University, I extend our deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those who died in today’s tragic shootings at Virginia Polytechnic and State University (Virginia Tech),” he said.
This event, which is dominating televsion broadcasts and news Web sites, has been acknowledged by President Bush, who attended a convocation at Virgina Tech.
Bush ordered flags at half mast through Sunday night and referred to the event as “the worst day of violence in college history.”
Leave a Reply