Monday, April 16, 2007

Bloodbath At Virginia Tech


C Goodman

It's being described as the deadliest mass shooting rampage in U.S. history. A gunman this morning walked onto the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg and opened fire on anyone in his path. At least 32 people were killed in just a matter of hours. The gunman also died when he took his own life. Investigators have offered no motive for the attack. The gunman's name has not been released and officials don't know if he was a student. At least 26 other people were injured in the rampage, some seriously.

Until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting. Last August, 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. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

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