News - Developing story VaTech shooting kills 20

(4/17 update - Due to the high traffic to this post coming from Google, please go to this page for all postings on the conspiracy theory aspects of the massacre. More posts are coming: http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/search/label/VaTech%20Massacre - The CT Blogger)



The last I checked the online news sites only one was dead, now they are reporting 20. I'll try to keep a running post on this story, mass murders such as this tend to wind up in the CT arena. The timing is odd as the 8th anniversary of the Columbine massacre is 4 days away.

12:40 PM, 16th -

20 reported dead, gunman dead. The shootings came three days after a bomb
threat Friday forced the cancellation of classes in three buildings. (CNN)

21 dead, The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre
campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. Gunman dead. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution)

MSNBC still reporting 1 dead and the gunman in custody.

12:50 PM 16th Update

22 dead, gunman included, 28 wounded. At least one student was killed in
the dorm and others were killed in the classroom. (MSNBC)

At least 20 dead, 17 wounded. One person was killed and others were
wounded at multiple locations inside a dormitory about 7:15 a.m., Flinchum said.
Two hours later, another shooting at Norris Hall, the engineering science and
mechanics building, resulted in multiple casualties, the university reported. (CNN)

12:55 PM 16th

The shootings came three days after a bomb threat Friday forced the
cancellation of classes in three buildings, WDBJ in Roanoke reported. Also, the
100,000-square-foot Torgersen Hall was evacuated April 2 after police received a
written bomb threat, The Roanoke Times reported. (CNN)

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed
when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and
fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on
a trail just off campus. (MSNBC)

1:02 PM 16th

Details of the incident are still sketchy but it appears that a gunman killed one person at a co-ed residence hall at about 7:15 a.m. local time. Police responded to that incident and began investigating. About two hours later, a second shooting erupted at Norris Hall, an engineering building on the opposite end of the campus. At least 21 people were killed there. (CTV.ca)

1:10 PM 16th

There has been “a multiple shooting with multiple victims,” said Virginia Tech,
adding one gunman had already been arrested and police were searching for a possible second shooter. Gunfire first broke out in a residence on the campus in the small western Virginia town of Blacksburg, and was then heard in a second building, called the Norris Hall. “Police have one shooter in custody and as part of routine police procedure, they continue to search for a second shooter,” the university said. (TheAustrailian.news.com no time stamp)

1:15 PM 16th

NBC's Pete Williams said two law enforcement officials told him the gunman
killed himself. They also said the gunman used two 9-mm handguns during the rampage, Williams reported. He said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms was trying to track the weapons. (MSNBC)

University reporting that a suspected shooter is in custody, another sought (CNN)

1:35 PM 16th

A lone gunman is dead after police said he killed at least 21 people Monday during twin shootings on the Virginia Tech campus -- the worst school shooting incident in U.S. history. (CNN)

2:35 PM 16th

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said there was no immediate evidence
to suggest it was a terrorist attack, “but all avenues will be explored.” NBC's
Pete Williams said two law enforcement officials told him the gunman killed
himself. They also said the gunman used a 9-mm handgun and a .22-caliber pistol during the rampage, Williams reported. He said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was trying to track the weapons.(MSNBC) Note: MSNBC has changed the facts of the Pete Williams quote.

2:50 PM 16th (note: Now that the fog has begun to lift on this story I'll only post major changes to the details of the story as they occur)

Authorities said the gunman was dead after he shot nearly 50 people at two
locations on campus. The name of the gunman, whom witnesses described as a young Asian man wearing a maroon cap and a black leather jacket, was not released. The man did not appear to be shooting at random, NBC News’ Pete Williams reported, quoting federal law enforcement officials. He appeared to have specifically targeted the two locations, a co-ed dormitory and a classroom in an engineering building. Officials told Williams that they were investigating reports that the gunman may have chained the doors of the classroom closed so his victims could not escape. (MSNBC)

More reports as they arrive and facts change.