Thread: VA Tech

Unless we know the circumstances it's hard to say.
One man killing 32 people and wounding 20. Were they all in one room? Did he surprise groups of people, nature of his weapons (automatics, machine gun, knives ....)?
We're all in the dark for now.
We don't know the circumstances. I know right now I don't and I'm at home on the Internet looking. All I have is this mounting death toll I keep seeing. Truly horrific.

My prayers go out to the families.

It's really a shame. VTec is one of the premier Virginia universities (and Virginia has some great public universities) - particularly for engineering. Beautiful, bucolic area. Up in the Blue Ridge. Small town. I'm sure they weren't prepared for something like this. Who would be?

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGal

Two hours elapsed between the first shootings at the dorm, and the later shootings in the classrooms that killed so many more. The only warnings were some emails sent out.

I'm sorry, this is unacceptable. Public address systems should have been constantly running, warning students to leave the campus....all classes should have been cancelled.

Don't try to convince me otherwise.

GA

You are soooooo true GA,

I worked at a University with over 27,000 during the 9/11 attacks. Guess how long it took them to decide that they should evacuate the campus??? 4 hours!!!

I graduated from VT in '98 and I agree to a certain extent and wonder why more wasn't done or couldn't be done beforehand to make decisions and notify students faster, especially after what happened last August.

Having said that, you have to know what kind of a town Blacksburg is and experience VT to get an idea of why they reacted as such. It's a quiet town. Many people didn't lock their doors on the street I lived on just after graduation. As a student, your greatest worry outside of your next exam would possibly be unruly drunk students on the weekend.

I can certainly see how the local police considered the first incident isolated. A PA system would have been invaluable, but likely hasn't been installed due to the high cost. This is a LARGE campus with many buildings. Most students live off campus and drive in or take the bus. Obviously e-mail is insufficient as notification was needed almost immediately and nobody is on their computer all the time.

It's possible it could have been avoided, but I can certainly see why it was not. Virginia Tech is an excellent school and with time they will bounce back. It really should be remembered for it's excellence in research, education, and beautiful scenery and not this incident alone.

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGal

Two hours elapsed between the first shootings at the dorm, and the later shootings in the classrooms that killed so many more. The only warnings were some emails sent out.

I'm sorry, this is unacceptable. Public address systems should have been constantly running, warning students to leave the campus....all classes should have been cancelled.

Don't try to convince me otherwise.

GA

Most kids are a lot more techno savvy than my generation. But it seems that a simple solution would be to have a siren that would alert a campus of an emergency. I’m sure colleges in tornado alley have something of this nature? It’s pretty low tech, low cost solution, but you know if you hear it, something pretty serious is happening. The news medias mention email and text messaging, but that can be unreliable.

The one thing that really bothers me was watching policemen taking cover behind cars and trees. One thing past school shootings have taught law enforcement was the importance of speed. After the incident in Colorado, departments were taught to move in fast, even before waiting for SWAT. As a father of three, my prayers go out to the victims families.