V is for Virginia Tech

This entry is part of the A to Z challenge.

This account is from Wikipedia.

The Virginia Tech shooting, also known as the Virginia Tech massacre, occurred on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. A senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in two separate attacks (another six people were injured escaping from classroom windows), approximately two hours apart, before committing suicide.

The shootings occurred in two separate incidents. The first incident was in West Ambler Johnston Hall, during which the perpetrator killed two students. The second incident was in Norris Hall, where the other 31 deaths and all the nonlethal injuries, occurred. The shooter used two firearms during the attacks: a .22-caliber Walther P22 semi-automatic handgun and a 9 mm semi-automatic Glock 19 handgun.

West Ambler Johnston Hall is a residence hall.  The shooter shot two people here, then went to his own residence hall and changed his blood stained clothes.  He mailed a package of writings and video recordings, then walked over to Norris Hall.   In a backpack, he carried several chains, locks, a hammer, a knife, two handguns with nineteen 10- and 15-round magazines, and nearly 400 rounds of ammunition.

The shooter entered Norris Hall, which housed the Engineering Science and Mechanics program among others, and chained the three main entrance doors shut. He placed a note on one of the chained doors, claiming that attempting to open the door would cause a bomb to explode.  At about 9:40 a.m., he began shooting.  The Wikipedia report is painful reading.  The shooter went from classroom to classroom, shotting at faculty and students. In room 204, Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, forcibly prevented the shooter from entering the room. Librescu was able to hold the door closed until most of his students escaped through the windows, but he died after being shot multiple times through the door. One student in his classroom was killed.  Hearing the commotion on the floor below, Professor Kevin Granata took twenty students from a third-floor classroom into his office where the door could be locked. He then went downstairs to investigate and was shot and killed by Cho. None of the students locked in Granata's office were harmed.

Approximately ten to twelve minutes after the second attack began, the perpetrator shot himself in his right temple with the Glock 19.  During this second assault, he had fired at least 174 rounds, killing thirty people and wounding seventeen more.  All of the victims were shot at least three times each; of the thirty killed, twenty-eight were shot in the head.

Killed:
Jamie Bishop (35)
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak (49)
Kevin Granata (45)
Liviu Librescu (76)
G. V. Loganathan (53)
Ross Alameddine (20)
Brian Bluhm (25)
Ryan Clark (22)
Austin Cloyd (18)
Daniel Perez Cueva (21)
Matthew Gwaltney (24)
Caitlin Hammaren (19)
Jeremy Herbstritt (27)
Rachael Hill (18)
Emily Hilscher (19)
Matthew La Porte (20)
Jarrett Lane (22)
Henry Lee (20)
Partahi Lumbantoruan (34)
Lauren McCain (20)
Daniel O'Neil (22)
Juan Ortiz (26)
Minal Panchal (26)
Erin Peterson (18)
Michael Pohle Jr. (23)
Julia Pryde (23)
Mary Karen Read (19)
Reema Samaha (18)
Waleed Shaalan (32)
Leslie Sherman (20)
Maxine Turner (22)
Nicole White (20)

Others were wounded by gunfire, or hurt by broken glass trying to escape.
Remember the victims.

Viridian