Virginia Tech

It made no sense. Then again, these things never do.

I was checking my e-mail like always when I got into work yesterday morning. There was breaking news from CNN. “One person has been killed and one wounded in a shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, a state government official tells The Associated Press.”

I read the next e-mail. “At least 20 people were fatally shot Monday on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, police said, according to WDBJ. CNN working to confirm.”

I turned to a co-worker. Had he heard this? Did he know what was going on? No.

We made our way to the TV in the newsroom and flipped it to MSNBC. There it was -- police cars, students running, gun shots. At that moment we didn’t realize what we were seeing, I don’t think anybody did. We didn’t realize it would end up becoming the deadliest mass shootings or school shooting in American history.

I knew coming from Texas (and the University of Texas at Austin) this tragedy was going to have a massive impact -- not only on the community, but the nation.

See until yesterday, the deadliest mass shooting in the US occurred in 1991 in Killeen, Texas, when a man went into a Luby’s cafeteria and killed 23 people, then himself. It took years for me to go to a Luby’s after that.

Until yesterday, the 1966 Charles Whitman shootings at the University of Texas tower was the deadliest shooting on a campus. UT closed the tower after that, and didn’t reopen it for nearly 25 years. But now there are metal detectors, security guards and a new “safety lattice.” There are still bullet holes in the buildings on Guadalupe Street on west campus and the shooting was the reason SWAT teams were created.

Now your saying this happened around you, not to you? Why such an impact. I don’t know. Maybe because just a couple of years ago I was on a college campus, because you don’t think someone will walk into your dorm and shoot you, because when you’re in college – you should be thinking about finals, parties, projects and grades – not whether your friends have survived a mass shooting.

Reading the early accounts from the students, I got the feeling that there was no warning. It was just another morning on a sleepy campus – and then it happened. And as I watch it all unfold on the web, I read each updated report. The death toll rose, 21, 22, 30, 31, 32 and then as I was at the gym at 10 PM – 33 people were dead.

Thirty-three people. I just stared at the TV while on the treadmill. Thirty-three people. I closed my eyes and ran, and ran. Maybe if I believed hard enough I would wake-up from the nightmare. Surly there were not 33 people dead. But instead I saw Date Line interviewing students. I couldn’t take it and turned off the TV.

The woman next to me kept flipping between MSNBC and Family Guy. Then she stopped. She left it on a movie. Maybe she too couldn’t watch anymore. We both just ran.

I hoped that maybe by this morning there would be more answers, there would be more information – at least a hint as to why he did this. Or maybe as this is being posted there are only more unanswered questions as to why Monday, April 16 will be marked as the worst shooting rampage in US history.