News / World
Virginia Tech Death Toll at 33; Gunman was a Student
Federal officials have said that the gunman who shot and killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech before turning the gun on himself was a 23-year-old male who was a permanent legal resident from Korea. University president Charles Steger went on to confirm that the shooter in the Norris Hall rampage was a student at the Blacksburg, Va. school.
Norris Hall was the scene of the second shooting on campus, an all out assault that followed the murder of two individuals at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-ed dorm that houses nearly 900 students.
After police arrived on the scene at West Ambler Johnston they determined that the gunman had fled the campus and believed it to be an isolated event. The university felt there was no need to cancel classes after hearing the police report; a decision that has led many to question the university’s responsibility.
From descriptions offered by witnesses, the gunman appeared calm and almost businesslike as he entered classrooms and shot randomly at professors and students inside Norris Hall before finally ending his own life with a shot to the head.
Officials are expected to release more information later Tuesday about what has become the single worst U.S. shooting rampage in the country’s history.
