My heart truly goes out to every single person there, their friends, their families, and every alumnus. VT is truly a community and a family one never really leaves. Anyone who's ever attended Virginia Tech is in shock. I can't imagine what these students, faculty, and staff are going through right now; nor their families and friends who still haven't heard anything b/c of telecommunication issues or worse. Please have your thoughts and prayers sent out to the Hokies.

As of right now, the offical death toll is 31, including the gunman. My brother is a VA State Trooper and the Intelligence Liaison to the Virginia Fusion Center, which is the intelligence "hub," if you will, of all intel coming through Virginia. Their word over there is 34. I can't confirm that, and I don't know if that rising number comes from the injured dying, or finding more victims in more classrooms.

www.nbc12.com is Richmond's local NBC affiliate and there's an interview with a student who was shot. The gunman shot him in the bicep, the round exited his bicep then entered his forearm. He said the killer came into the room and started firing randomly and he was one of 10-15 people who was shot in his classroom alone. The uninjured students got up to barricade the door, at which time the killer returned and started shooting them through the door. He entered multiple classrooms and did the same thing--completely random. The first death occurred in West AJ, then 2 hours later, he started shooting at Norris Hall, the home of the Mechanical Engineering Dept. Ironically, I had my Morality and Justice class in there my sophomore year.

I've just gotten word from a friend of mine at Tech that Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting at the funerals of these students. I'm aboslutely sickened. www.godhatesamerica.com
"WBC will preach at the funerals of the Virginia Tech students killed on campus during a shooting rampage April 16, 2007. You describe this as monumental horror, but you know nothing of horror -- yet. "They shall also gird themselves with sackloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads" (Eze. 7:18).

The LORD God Almighty is your terror, and you refuse to acknowledge Him. He has appointed over you terror (Lev. 26:16). We keep telling you how this is going to get worse and worse for you, and you keep trying to shut us up with new laws and lame government action. You might as well accept the fact that as long as we draw breath, we will use that breath to preach to you. Our prophecies are true. Your children are dying in the streets of Iraq, the mountains of Afghanistan, and the hallways of your own schools. You have no one to blame but yourselves."

I'm honestly in tears after that.

I've also just gotten word that Bush has used this as an opportunity to say something to the effect of him still believing in Second Amendment rights, but that laws need to be revised. I was really hoping that we could keep politics out of this for a while. I won't even comment on that as I will keep my political feelings regarding that statement out of this post.

On www.techsideline.com, forums, the Lounge, people are posting from everywhere, at every second, their news and feelings regarding the events at Hokie Country today. There's a post from someone that hit me hard saying simply, "Our prayers for VT from Littleton, CO."

The only solace I could gain from any of this is knowing the gunman was killed by returned fire and that he didn't get to take his own life, as is being speculated. The VT Corps of Cadets was called in to protect doors to buildings. Those Corps guys have never had to do anything like that until then I'm sure. Actually, I'd love it if an armed student was the one who finally brought him down, but I doubt it.

I can't imagine what Blacksburg is dealing with right now. Please keep Virginia Tech in your thoughts.

H-O-K-I-E-S
HOKIES!