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Bloodbath Leaves 33 Dead at US University

Horror, Sorrow and Angry Questions

By Frank Hornig and Georg Mascolo in Washington

The horror over the worst shooting in US history is mixing with outrage as police and the administration of Virginia Tech university face criticism for not evacuating the campus after the first shots were fired. Is it not time to reconsider lax gun control laws?

Erin Sheehan was attending her German course in room 207 of Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech University campus in Blacksburg, Virginia when a young, Asian-looking man appeared in the room. He looked like a student. Only his outfit really stood out -- a "Boy Scout-type outfit" with a black vest, Sheehan told the student newspaper Collegiate Times. He didn't say a word, and to Sheehan, he seemed as though he were looking for someone. But then he began shooting.

It was just one scene from the bloodiest shooting rampage the United States has ever seen. It took hours before Americans had a clear understanding of just how big the disaster was. The first reports to come out indicated that only one, or maybe two, had been killed. Then, though, the death toll began to rise quickly -- until it eventually reached 33, including the gunman himself.

A further 15 wounded were delivered to local hospitals, many of them with horrifying gun wounds that had been covered with ripped up T-shirts by fellow students. Reporters in Blacksburg spoke of scenes inside the ambulances reminiscent of a bloody day in Baghdad.

The massacre -- in this idyllic town in the Appalachian foothills -- looks set to to occupy the country for months to come. Who the gunman was and what his motive might have been remains a mystery. But on Monday evening, the swelling rage in the university town 250 miles south of Washington was palpable. Mixed in with the horror at what had happened was growing disgust with police tactics followed during the shooting -- tactics which may in the end have made the catastrophe possible.

They received the first emergency call shortly after 7 a.m. –- there was a shooting in the West Ambler Johnson dormitory. The police believed it to be an "isolated incident," and didn’t see any danger for other students. It was believed that the shooter had fled the scene, maybe even the state, said Police Chief Wendell Flinchum. So the campus wasn’t evacuated after the first shots were fired, and the students went to class as usual. There wasn’t even a warning. Those who were already there were just told to stay in their rooms. This enabled the killer to continue his killing spree two hours later in Norris Hall -- at the other end of the extensive university campus. With tragic results: It was then that 30 of his 32 victims died.

Students alerted each other by cell phones, e-mail

The police are still sticking to their supposition that there were possibly two shooters –- although there is little evidence of this. They don’t want to answer any more reporters' probing questions. Or to explain why the most reliable information, and the information which helped save lives, didn’t come from them or from the university administration. It came from students who warned one another by e-mail and mobile phone.

"I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident," said 18-year-old Billy Bason, who lives in the dormitory where the first shooting took place.

The local authorities are not the only ones who have a lot of explaining to do. The whole country should be looking at why these kinds of horrible crimes happen so often in the United States. No other country in the world experiences massacres in schools and universities so regularly. Out of 46 of these kinds of crimes that have occurred since 1996, more than half have been in the US. "It seems as though we have a copyright on these crimes," one CNN commentator reflected yesterday. Only the particularly terrible crimes, such as the murder of five school girls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in October 2006, even hit the national headlines.

Perhaps the most urgent question is: Is it not finally time for tighter weapons laws? Virginia, the setting for yesterday's catastrophe, is proud of its particularly lax gun laws. A 9 mm pistol, like the one the perpetrator used, shoots as fast as you can pull the trigger. It is as easy to buy at a private gun fair as a six-pack of beer.

Guns, 40-round clips easy to buy

"The impact is felt in every American classroom," said a visibly shaken President George W. Bush yesterday afternoon. Both houses of Congress, just back after the Easter break, commemorated the victims with a minute's silence. Incidentally they are the same politicians who failed to put into law even the slightest additional restrictions on America's generous gun laws. Because a ban on semi-automatic weapons was not extended, magazine with up to 40 rounds are easily available, delivered overnight by UPS. The high casualty toll in Blacksburg could indicate that the perpetrator used exactly this kind of clip.

The victims had not even been removed from the scene when opponents and supporters of stricter gun controls began their usual war of words, as happens after every massacre. The powerful lobby National Rifle Association had little to say initially other than a short statement on its Web site expressing its condolences to the families and saying it will not say more until the facts are known.

But one supporter of gun ownership rights interviewed on American television posited the theory that if only other students had been armed, the bloodbath could have been avoided. Similar arguments cropped up in numerous conservative blogs.

If this kind of logic manages to prevail on this occasion, then another trend is also sure to increase. Many educational institutions already resemble fortresses: barricaded doors, guards, and metal detectors are common, as are sophisticated evacuation plans. Security advisors specializing in schools and universities have been enjoying booming business for years. Bush himself called last year for efforts to prevent attacks in schools to be stepped up again.

No such thing as a typical shooter

Attempts to stop the crimes start in the classroom. The Department of Education has asked teachers to look out for the type of person who may be prone to commit a shooting, but a study by the Secret Service two years ago found that there is no such thing as a common profile for such people.

Instead, justice authorities have adopted a zero tolerance policy and taken a hard line: a 12-year-old from Massachusetts who painted a picture showing him shooting his teacher faced criminal charges. A seventh-grader from Texas was put in youth detention for writing a Halloween essay about a school massacre. Even games can get children into trouble. A pupil from Oklahoma was transferred into a special education program because he used his finger as an imaginary gun barrel and pretended to pull the trigger. Pupils are now obliged bay law to report fellow students that behave suspiciously.

The dead of Blacksburg will be commemorated on Tuesday, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is returning from Asia, the pupils want to light 10,000 candles on the campus. It will be a moment of mourning, the nation will be united in grief. This time, perhaps the sorrow will great enough to trigger more than empty promises.