Man, as I sit and watch the news coverage of the awful shooting that took place on the campus of Virginia Tech, in many ways I am still in shock. While it is so easy to get on the “blame train” and look for reasons or folks to blame, imagine if that was one of your children, brother or sister for a moment. I just saw a few of the pictures of the victims and people of ALL RACES were killed (I had to put that there because I know that there are some who are chomping at the bit to put the race spin on this story). As far as I am concerned, these were my fellow countrymen and today I grieve with there families.

Here are some links relating to this story

From Virginia Tech:

Important phone numbers:

Parent/family info line: 1-800-533-1144

Police tip line: 540/231-6411

Dean of Students Office: 540/231-3787

Podcasts from this morning’s news conference:

President Steger (3.2 MB; Length 3:22)

Police Chief Wendell Flinchum (2.7 MB; Length 2:52)

State Police Col. Steve Flaherty (3.2 MB; Length 3:23)

State Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro (1.6 MB; Length 1:43)

State Secretary of Public Safety John Marshall (3.1 MB; Length 3:20)

(abcnews.com) Video of one of the victims – Ryan Clark of Martinez, Ga.

=====

JERUSALEM (AP) — The e-mails arrived soon after Marlena Librescu learned her husband had been shot to death – from students telling how he barricaded the doorway of his Virginia Tech classroom and saved their lives.

Liviu Librescu, an Israeli engineering and math lecturer, was one of several foreign victims of Monday’s shootings, which left 32 people dead, plus the gunman – South Korean national Cho Seung-Hui, 23.

“My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee,” Librescu’s son, Joe Librescu, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. “Students started opening windows and jumping out.” (more…)

====

Va. Tech’s security response raises questions

Time lag, domestic angle, ‘person of interest’ arise as early concerns (msnbc.com)

* I , too think that the reason to not completely shut down the school after the first shootings with full knowledge that the shooter was still loose was kinda strange. We’ll just have to wait and see until all the facts come out.

====

Profiles of victims (Denverpost.com)

====

Plus, if anybody knows of any student who is on the VA Tech campus, please have them contact me via the “Contact” link above. I would like to interview them for a future podcast.