Wes’s Life

This post is mainly for family and friends.

In case you haven’t heard any­thing, there has been a series of shoot­ings on campus today (Monday April 16th 2007). So far there has been one killing. I wanted to let people know that I am safe and from what I hear so far so are my friends.

There have been a few emails so far:

9:26 AM:

A shoot­ing inci­dent occurred at West Amber John­ston ear­lier this morn­ing. Police are on the scene and are inves­ti­gat­ing. The uni­ver­sity com­mu­nity is urged to be cau­tious and are asked to con­tact Vir­ginia Tech Police if you observe any­thing sus­pi­cious or with infor­ma­tion on the case. Con­tact Vir­ginia Tech Police at 231-6411

9:50 AM:

A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in build­ings until fur­ther notice. Stay away from all win­dows.

10:16 AM:

Vir­ginia Tech has can­celed all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where there are, lock their doors and stay away from win­dows. Per­sons off campus are asked not to come to campus.

10:49 AM: New CNN News Arti­cle

One person was killed and one person was wounded in a shoot­ing on the Vir­ginia Tech uni­ver­sity campus in Blacks­burg on Monday, The Asso­ci­ated Press reported, quot­ing a state gov­ern­ment offi­cial.

…

11:07 AM: ONE GUNMAN IN CUS­TODY

In addi­tion to an ear­lier shoot­ing today in West Ambler John­ston, there has been a mul­ti­ple shoot­ing with mul­ti­ple vic­tims in Norris Hall.

Police and EMS are on the scene.

Police have one shooter in cus­tody and as part of rou­tine police pro­ce­dure, they con­tinue to search for a second shooter.

All people in uni­ver­sity build­ings are required to stay inside until fur­ther notice.

All entrances to campus are closed.

12:30 PM: A friend of ours was in the build­ing at the same time as the shooter, but is safe other then a broken leg as a result of jump­ing out of the window of the second story of Norris. There is a count of 22 dead and from what I hear, that includes the shooter. Heli­copters can not land because of high wind gusts in Blacks­burg and as a result are not being used. Com­pound­ing the prob­lem, that same high wind is caus­ing power out­ages.

So far most of the stu­dents who have been inter­viewed have been asked if they want to stay and for the most part, they are saying yes. I have to agree that I will stay regard­less of today’s events.

2:25 PM: Pres­i­dent Steger’s State­ment

Two shoot­ings on campus today have left 22 con­firmed dead, includ­ing stu­dents.

Fam­i­lies wish­ing to reunite with stu­dents are sug­gested to meet at the Inn at Vir­ginia Tech. The uni­ver­sity is plan­ning a con­vo­ca­tion for tomor­row at 2 p.m. at Cas­sell Col­i­seum for the uni­ver­sity com­mu­nity to come together to begin to deal with the tragedy.

Coun­sel­ing is avail­able in the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of Jamer­son Ath­letic Center, acces­si­ble from Jamer­son or the Mer­ry­man Ath­letic Facil­ity, for employ­ees who seek assis­tance fol­low­ing today’s events.

All fac­ulty and staff have been released and asked to go home effec­tive imme­di­ately.

The uni­ver­sity will open tomor­row at 8 a.m. but classes are can­celled.