1 Killed in Shootings at Virginia Tech

[DeltAlum]

I think this is a pretty good analysis piece:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local...lines-virginia

[James]

'I Saw Bullet Holes Coming Through the Door'
He almost cut French class. But Colin Goddard made the fateful decision to attend that Monday morning—and wound up full of bullets. One student in Cho's path.

April 18, 2007 - Monday began normally enough for Colin Goddard, a 21-year-old international studies student in his fourth year at Virginia Tech. His first class was French, at 9:05 a.m., in 211 Norris Hall, but Goddard was running a little late because he'd picked up a classmate who was having car problems. After toying with the idea of cutting class that day, the two of them decided to go. There were about 17 students enrolled in the course, many of them International Studies majors fulfilling their language requirements. Many had taken a lower-level French course together the previous semester.
As they entered the room, they heard a series of loud bangs that sounded like they were coming from the hallway, or maybe from the class next door. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is," the teacher, Madame Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, said to the class. "We told her it was no big deal," Goddard told NEWSWEEK. "There has been a lot of construction going on at Norris. People were complaining about it all semester, and it sounded like it could have been a hammer." Couture was concerned enough to open the class door and peek out into the hallway. "She immediately shut the door—she had this terrified look on her face—and she said 'Call 911,'" Goddard said.

Goddard pulled out his cell phone, dialed 911 himself, and with the operator on the line, began trying to explain the situation and where he was calling from. The operator was having trouble understanding Goddard and kept repeating the wrong location back to him. At the same time, other students were trying to barricade the classroom door that for some reason wouldn't or couldn't lock. "After that, I saw bullet holes start coming through the door," Goddard said. "It looked like he was trying to shoot the lock out. When he started firing at the door, I hit the floor."

After a few seconds, Cho came into the room. Goddard, his view of the classroom door partly obstructed by a desk, got his first glimpse of the killer. "He had on boots, dark pants and a white shirt. All of the students were on the ground, and he just started walking down the rows of desks, shooting people multiple times. He didn't say anything. He didn't demand anything. He was just shooting." The 911 operator was still on the phone, and Goddard, not wanting to draw attention to himself, dropped it to the floor. A girl named Heidi picked it up, begging the police to hurry. But it was too late, and Cho turned toward them. "I think he heard the police on the phone," Goddard said. "He shot some people near me, he shot the girl across from me in the back. Then I felt a very forceful rush of air and a pinch or a sting in my leg." Goddard felt himself flinch when the bullet hit him, but he did his best to stay still, to play dead. "Nobody tried to get up and be a hero," he said. Then the shooting stopped.

Goddard resisted the urge to move or try to look around. "I thought he was still in the room." Soon the gunshots started again, back out in the hallway; other sounds in the classroom were now audible. A few students were calling out to each other, Goddard said. He heard the voice of the 911 operator, still squawking into his cell phone, and saw Christina, the girl who had been shot in the back. A male student on the floor near him was making a low, constant gurgling sound. "We were just lying on the floor" for what Goddard estimates as 10 to 15 minutes. He heard more gunshots outside. Then, sirens. And shouts.

Suddenly, the classroom door burst open again. The killer was back. "He came back in and started going around the room again, shooting people." Up one aisle and down another, Cho moved through the room, repeating the path he had taken the first time. When the killer reached Goddard, he felt two more bullets punch into his body, one in the shoulder, and one in his buttocks. "My chest and torso were kind of underneath a desk, that's why I think I got shot in my extremities," he told NEWSWEEK

[BetteDavisEyes]

My school, The University of La Verne, held a prayer service for the victims of the tragedy last week. There are also ribbons commemorating each life taken (minus the killer) outside the school library. It was very touching to see them this week and read the names on each ribbon.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by James

'I Saw Bullet Holes Coming Through the Door'
He almost cut French class. But Colin Goddard made the fateful decision to attend that Monday morning—and wound up full of bullets. One student in Cho's path.

Horrifying. I understand the school has set up funds to assist victims and their families. I hope that the survivors are able to get the best counseling possible to help them cope. How can they ever feel safe again?

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by jon1856

How is this, a member of the media in his own blog, saying how poor the media's responce to this was.
APRIL 20, 2007
The First Virginia Tech Cartoons were Terrible
When a lunatic killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University earlier this week I knew what to expect from political cartoonists, who don't react well to tragedy. Some of the cartoons seemed insensitive, as today's generation of jokesters struggled to respond to a story with no lighter side.
http://cagle.com/news/BLOG/main.asp

And some of the good, the bad, and the ugly:
http://cagle.com/news/VirginiaTechShootings/

Why is this guy writing about all that and complaining, yet he posts them on his website? Hypocrisy.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

Why is this guy writing about all that and complaining, yet he posts them on his website? Hypocrisy.

Perhaps.
But he is also "reporting" was has been already drawn and seen around the country.
And doing his own Op-Ed story.

One of the reason I find his site so interesting is that one can see just what others are seeing reported, or rather drawn, around the country and the world.

If I really tried, I could get about 6-8 local papers in my area on any given day but that is not something I would ever do.

[Taualumna]

I'm just wondering if any media have addressed stigma attached to mental illness in certain cultures, which may have played a role into the killer's disintegration (I know that he has had help, but I am wondering if it was already too late). Or is this too sensitive a topic right now?

[jon1856]

How is this, a member of the media in his own blog, saying how poor the media's responce to this was.
APRIL 20, 2007
The First Virginia Tech Cartoons were Terrible
When a lunatic killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University earlier this week I knew what to expect from political cartoonists, who don't react well to tragedy. Some of the cartoons seemed insensitive, as today's generation of jokesters struggled to respond to a story with no lighter side.
http://cagle.com/news/BLOG/main.asp

And some of the good, the bad, and the ugly:
http://cagle.com/news/VirginiaTechShootings/

[ΑΓΔSquirrel10]

Originally Posted by jon1856

How is this, a member of the media in his own blog, saying how poor the media's responce to this was.
APRIL 20, 2007
The First Virginia Tech Cartoons were Terrible
When a lunatic killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University earlier this week I knew what to expect from political cartoonists, who don't react well to tragedy. Some of the cartoons seemed insensitive, as today's generation of jokesters struggled to respond to a story with no lighter side.
http://cagle.com/news/BLOG/main.asp

And some of the good, the bad, and the ugly:
http://cagle.com/news/VirginiaTechShootings/

I just looked through those and about half of those were tasteless. Don't cartoonists realize that families are grieving? It's called common courteousy!

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrel10

I just looked through those and about half of those were tasteless. Don't cartoonists realize that families are grieving? It's called common courteousy!

That is just what the owner of the website said in his blog.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by Taualumna

I'm just wondering if any media have addressed stigma attached to mental illness in certain cultures, which may have played a role into the killer's disintegration (I know that he has had help, but I am wondering if it was already too late). Or is this too sensitive a topic right now?

Isn't there a stigma against mental illness in pretty much all cultures?

[_Opi_]

Originally Posted by kddani

Isn't there a stigma against mental illness in pretty much all cultures?

some are worse than others.

[Taualumna]

Originally Posted by _Opi_

some are worse than others.

Exactly. I could go on and on about problems in my community.

[AGDLynn]

On an unrelated note, I just found out minutes ago I'm distantly related to Coach Beamer but my source didn't tell me how, lol.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AGDLynn

On an unrelated note, I just found out minutes ago I'm distantly related to Coach Beamer but my source didn't tell me how, lol.

I met him several years ago. He seemed genuinely nice. I heard that following last week's tragedy, he visited hospitalized victims as well as some of the families of students who were killed. From what I gather, he is extremely down to earth and just an all-round good person. I've wondered what the first football game is going to be like next season. The baseball game last week was evidently quite a healing time for everyone involved.