Letter from a current Omega brother at VA Tech.

[Wolfman]

This is a letter from an engineering student at Va Tech and member of Eta Lambda Chapter there.

am ((PDT))

Tech Shooting: A letter from a student on campus

First and foremost, I want to send out my prayers to all of the
families that were affected in this tragedy that took place at my
beloved university today. I ask that anyone who reads personal
accounts of the events that took place to please do the same. I am a
student in the Aerospace Engineering department. With several
teachers that have offices in Norris, which was the location of the
second shooting, I have been through that building more times than I
can account for. In my earlier years at Tech, I was a resident in
West AJ, which was the location of the first shooting. Right now, its
hard for all students, but especially hard for us engineers. At any
given time, any one of us could have been in that building when the
shootings occurred. The total is around 22 or so dead. These are
students that I studied with, students that I had lab with, students
that were studying all hours of the night at the Math Emporium with
me. How can I feel right now? As I sit here and ponder my thoughts, I
receive a phone call that a member of Students of African American
Brotherhood, a fellow engineer was shot in his arm. There is no
telling how many others that are friends that are injured. As I sit
in deep thought, I remember when I was a resident in West AJ. It was
supposed to be safe. We used to leave our doors open!! Thats how safe
it seemed. Blacksburg was supposed to be this safe community--the
perfect college environment to achieve academic excellence. We
here at Tech are shaken. This event is going down in history as
the worse shooting that a US university has experienced. It saddens
me to the point that I drop to my knees where I stand to pray more
and more. I am a HOKIE. My university is supposed to be prestigious.
How could this happen? Why after the first shooting was the campus not
closed down? Why were classes allowed to continue? If classes were
cancelled after the first shooting, then maybe the majority of the
fatalities could have been avoided. All of this pain may have been
avoided. I really don't know though. I just know that it frightens me
to seek the answers to those questions. It frightens me to find out
who is not with us anymore because these are the people I interacted
with on a daily basis. These were the students that I took tests with.
All engineers go through the same curriculum for their first couple
of years. So I know that these students were people I knew. It hurts
to think of who could not be with us any more. Today, I was not on
campus when this incident took place, but I could have been. My
associates were on campus, my friends were on campus, my Line Brother
was on campus. My sadness turns to anger. Anger that Tech put the
people that I interact with, the friends that are so dear to my heart
that I call them family in danger. That after the first incident,
Tech not wanting to lose any money, decides not to cancel classes.
Not to tell the students to seek a safe haven. They wait until the
second shooting. I pray to calm my anger. I pray for the families of
the victims. I pray for the shooter that God has mercy on his soul. I
pray for the faculty here that didn't make the call to cancel the
classes for the day until it was too late. I ask that anyone who
reads this to pray with me, because at this point that is all that we
can do.

Horace Botts
Aerospace Engineer Major
Virginia Tech
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.