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Anger over US shooting warnings
BBC
Tuesday April 17, 2007
Survivors of the worst shooting rampage in US history have accused
authorities of not acting quickly enough to alert people a gunman
was on the loose.
The unidentified gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech university,
before committing suicide.
There were two attacks two hours apart, with 30 people shot dead
in the second.
Students have asked why the campus was not locked down, but officials
defended their actions, saying they could not have foreseen the
second incident.
President George W Bush said the US was "shocked and saddened"
by the attack at the university, home to 26,000 students, in the
town of Blacksburg.
Many unanswered questions remain about the attacks.
Police have still not said for sure that the two attacks were linked.
They have confirmed that two handguns were recovered.
They say they have a preliminary ID of the dead gunman but have
not released it. There is no clue yet as to any motive.
Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum also refused to rule
out the possibility of a co-conspirator.
"I'm not saying there is someone out there, and I'm not saying
there is someone who is not," he said.
Police have also not said whether the gunman was a student but
witnesses said he seemed to know a lot about the buildings, chaining
doors to stop students escaping.
One witness, Erin Sheehan, described him as "a little bit
under six-feet tall, young looking, Asian, dressed sort of strangely,
almost like a boy scout, very short-sleeved light, tan shirt and
some sort of ammo vest with black over it".
Some students complained angrily that they had received no warning
from the university until an e-mail more than two hours after the
first incident at 0715 (1215 GMT).
The message read: "A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings
until further notice. Stay away from all windows."
Two more e-mails followed, at 1016 and 1052, after the second shooting
was over.
Student Billy Bason, 18, said: "I think the university has
blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first
incident."
Graduate student Erin Mabry said: "There was a two-hour gap
between the two incidents. There is no excuse for a two-hour time
gap with no information."
But Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said: "We had no reason
to suspect any other incident was going to occur.
"We can only make decisions based on the information you had
at the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."
Chief Flinchum said emergency services had received a call at 0715
alerting them to a shooting at a dormitory - West Ambler Johnston
Hall.
The second shooting was at the engineering building, Norris Hall,
nearly half a mile (800 metres) away.
Police said they thought the first incident was isolated and "domestic"
and that the gunman had left the campus.
'Gunman reloaded'
Eyewitnesses said some students jumped from classroom windows to
escape the gunfire, which triggered panic on campus.
Some of those inside the university buildings were using the internet
to try to glean information about what was happening and many e-mailed
the BBC News website.
Nikolas Macko described how his class in Norris Hall barricaded
a door against the gunman.
"The shooter tried to open the door, but my classmates kept
it well shut, as they held the table against it from floor level.
"The shooter shot the door twice at chest level, which resulted
in two holes in the door, one of which hit the podium in the front
of the class room and the other continued out the window. At this
point he reloaded, shot the door again - this shot did not penetrate
- and moved on to the other classrooms," Mr Macko said.
The university was closed on Tuesday, and officials said counsellors
were on site for students.
The names of the victims have not been officially released but
information has been trickling out and students are beginning to
learn of the deaths of their friends.
The deadliest mass US shooting prior to the Virginia attack was
in Texas in 1991 when George Hennard killed 23 people and himself
in a cafeteria.
The US also has a history of deadly school shootings.
In 1966, the day after killing his wife and mother, gunman Charles
Whitman opened fire from a tower on the campus of the University
of Texas killing 14 people and injuring 31 others.
In 1999 two teenagers at Columbine High School in Colorado killed
12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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