"We will prevail"

Virginia Tech tries to rebuild after deadly shooting

By Kate Kozlowski, News Editor

What happened?

On Monday, April 16, a lone gunman killed 32 people and injured 29 more at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old South Korean native was the shooter. Cho was a senior English major at Virginia Tech. He killed himself after police arrived, ending the massacre.

Members of the Virginia Tech community are still stunned with tremendous grief, 10 days later.

“It’s still extremely sad,” Virginia Tech junior Andrew Fulton said. “It’s basically the most horrific thing that can happen.”

40,000 members of the Virginia Tech community attended a vigil on Tuesday, April 17 to honor the victims of the tragedy, Fulton said.

“I am very proud of the manner in which our faculty, staff, and students have united this week as a family” Virginia Tech president Charles Steger wrote on the school’s Web site. “We have demonstrated that we are not going to allow the tragic events of this last week to divide or define us. We will prevail...We are Hokies!”

“We’re really united,” Fulton said. “Everyone is looking out for each other, making sure everyone is OK emotionally. We’re just trying to get things back to normal.”

At 7:15 a.m., Virginia Tech police responded to a 911 call at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a residential building. Police discovered two gunshot victims, a man and a woman, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

At 9:45 a.m., Virginia Tech police responded to another 911 call in Norris Hall, an academic engineering building on Virginia Tech campus. Authorities arrived shortly after and discovered the front door had been barricaded.

Once inside, officers reported hearing gunshots. Before officers located the gunman, the shots had stopped. The officers discovered Cho, who had apparently taken this own life, according to the Web site.

On Wednesday, April 18, NBC News in New York reportedly received a package believed to have been sent by Cho. The package, which contained disturbingly graphic images and video of Cho with what investigators suspect are the murder weapons, was reportedly postmarked at 9:01 a.m., in between the two shootings, according to reports published by NBC News.

The images received included Cho pointing hand guns at the camera, putting a knife to his throat and holding one of the handguns used in the murders to his head, according to NBC News.

In addition to the tapes and photographs in the package, Cho included a 1,800 word “manifesto” outlining his actions, according to NBC News.

“You had everything you wanted,” Cho said on one of the videos. “Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren’t enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn’t enough. Your vodka and cognac weren’t enough. All your debaucheries weren’t enough. Those weren’t enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything.”

“You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today,” Cho said. “But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off.”

Items from the package have since been turned over to the FBI and the Virginia State Police, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

Police recovered a 9 mm handgun and a .22-caliber handgun from the crime scene. Results from ballistic tests on evidence from Norris and West Ambler Halls confirmed that one of the weapons was used in both locations.

Cho had a history of disturbing behavior at Virginia Tech. Lucinda Roy, English department chair, had contacted the Virginia Tech Police about concerns she had with Cho and his graphicly violent writing assignments, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

On Nov. 27, 2005, a female student reported to the Virginia Tech Police that Cho had contacted in person and via phone calls. The woman declined to press charges, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

On Dec. 12 of the same year, another female complained to the Virginia Tech police about Cho, this time that he has instant messaged her according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

A direct threat was never made in either instance, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

Officers from the Virginia Tech Police Department soon asked Cho to speak with a counselor. He did so without incident. He was temporarily admitted to a mental health facility, according to the Virginia Tech Web site.

Could it happen here?

“You never know. You just never know,” director of Security, Pete Soons said about the possibility of an incident like that of Virginia Tech’s happening on the St. Michael’s campus.

In response to last week’s massacre at Virginia Tech, an emergency action plan will soon be circulated to students and faculty, Soons said.

“We would never say it would never happen here,” Soons said. “Can it? Maybe. Will it? I don’t know. This document is intended to be distributed to the community to give people something to think about. Its intended to help people.”

In the fall of 2006, Soons and other administrators began establishing an “active shooter/ hostile intruder” guideline, in the aftermath of the school shooting in Essex in the summer of 2006.

“In the wake of this week’s tragedy, we said we really need to get going on getting this out,” Soons said.

The document, which is 75 percent complete, would outline a campus notification plan and a police response plan, Soons said. First, in this emergency action plan, Colchester police would be contacted. St. Michael’s Security would become support for the police. Second, using e-mail, the school’s Web site, campus voice mail, and eventually personal cell phones and text messages, students would be notified of the events. Classes would be cancelled.

“One of the things we’ve learned from this tragedy this week, from a notification standpoint, is the importance of cell phones and text messaging,” Soons said. “If we can devise a list to hit all students’ cell phones, we can get the word out very efficiently.”

Soons also expressed the need for the members of the school community to be vigilant, watching for strange behaviors of peers.

“Some things can’t be avoided,” Soons said. “But if there’s a method, its to pick up on clues and intervene. Its important for us as community members to pick out people who might act this way.”

Remembering the victims (For pictures go to NYtimes.com)

For related stories:

• vanderHeyden's Response
• The New York Times - "Virginia Teach struggles to return to normal"

Contact Kate Kozlowski at kkozlowski@smcvt.edu