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Mon April 16th, 2007
32
killed in US campus shooting
At least 32 people have been killed and at least 50 injured in two separate shootings at a US university campus, according to police and university reports.
The suspected gunman is believed to be among the fatalities at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, but it is unclear whether he was killed by police or took his own life.
The university web site said that at least 32 people were confirmed dead in the wake of the shootings.
Students at the campus were told to stay indoors and away from windows as police swept the area and worked to establish whether the gunman acted alone.
The incidents were about two hours apart. Police say they believe there was one gunman and that he is dead.
The state university in the town of Blacksburg is home to 26,000 students.
"We have a ballpark figure on fatalities. It's at least 30 fatalities," Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum said.
Rescue hampered
Speaking at a news conference, Mr Flinchum said that emergency services had received a call at 0715 (1215 GMT) alerting them to a multiple shooting at West Ambler Johnston Hall.
He said that two hours later there was a second report of shooting, this time at Norris Hall.
A fleet of ambulances has ferried the injured to nearby hospitals however, rescue efforts were reportedly hampered by high winds which meant that medical helicopters could not be used.
Mr Flinchum said that police believed there had been just one shooter involved and that he was now dead at Norris Hall.
He said it was unclear if the assailant was a student, but said that a number of the victims were.
"Some of the victims were shot in a classroom," Mr Flinchum said.
"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said, adding that the university was in the process of informing the next of kin of those killed.
Mr Steger said that officials were in the process of evacuating remaining students and staff from campus and that the university was now closed.
- BBC
BBC Reports
US school siege ends in bloodshed
28 September 2006
A gunman and one of the teenage girls he was holding hostage have died after police stormed a school in the US state of Colorado.
The violent end to the siege in the small mountain town of Bailey came after the gunman threatened to harm the two female students he was holding.
The local sheriff said the gunman had shot the hostage and then himself as police attempted to rescue the girls.
The gunman initially seized six girls, but later released four of them.
The injured girl was taken by helicopter to hospital in Denver, where she later died. The other girl was unhurt.
'Tactical solution'
Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said police had decided to storm a second-floor classroom at Platte Canyon High School, where the two girls were being held, after the gunman broke off negotiations.
He said the breakdown in communication came 30 minutes before a deadline the gunman had set.
"It was then decided that a tactical solution needed to be done in an effort to save the two hostages that were in the room," Mr Wegener told reporters.
"Officers breached the classroom with explosives and within seconds the suspect shot at entering Swat (specialised response unit) officers, then shot one of the two female hostages, then shot himself."
Mr Wegener said the motives of the gunman - described as being between 30 and 50 years old - were unknown.
"I don't know the identity of the gunman. I don't know why he wanted to do this and hopefully the investigation will reveal who it is."
The incident began when the man entered the school around noon (1800 GMT) with a gun and a rucksack, which he claimed held an explosive device, police said.
A newspaper in Park County quoted what appeared to be police radio reports.
One message described the gunman as arriving at the school with a handgun and firing a single shot when a teacher refused to do what he asked.
He then took six hostages. Negotiators later arranged the release of four of them.
Columbine massacre
Staff and pupils were evacuated from the high school and nearby Fitzsimmons Middle School while a bomb squad and Swat teams were deployed from neighbouring Jefferson County.
The two schools have nearly 800 students between them.
It was in Jefferson County in 1999 where two students killed 13 people at Columbine High School before taking their own lives.
Bailey lies 56km (35 miles) south-west of the state capital, Denver.
Columbine killers' words released
Fri July 7th, 2006
Police in the US have released almost 1,000 pages of diary entries, school work and computer files written by the Columbine High School killers.
Among the papers are maps, drawings and lists of supplies needed before Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire.
The supplies listed included petrol, nails, and propane. Meticulous preparations for the deadly attack were also set out.
The teenagers killed 13 people and themselves on 20 April 1999.
In total police have released thousands of documents since the shootings in Littleton, Colorado, which remain the worst US high school attack.
But the latest information includes new details about the pair's planning and thoughts in the months leading up the attack.
So many people need to die
Dylan Klebold
"Once I finally start my killing, keep this in mind," Harris wrote in his diary in October 1998.
"There are probably about 100 people max in the school alone who I don't want to die, the rest MUST [expletive] DIE!"
His co-conspirator Dylan Klebold was no less direct: "Hell on Earth - ahh, my favourite," he wrote in Harris' 1998 yearbook.
"So many people need to die."
Meticulous
The documents include essays offering a chilling insight into the minds of the would-be killers.
Months before the shootings, Harris wrote a school essay about guns in school, another about "Nazi Culture", and one about convicted killer Charles Manson.
The boys' drawings and writings had a violent theme
Klebold's writings predicted "more fun this school year than any others in the past".
Detailed lists and approximate timings for the eventual shootings are also in the documents.
In Klebold's diary the events of 20 April 1999 appear to be planned in advance.
The documents, which join an estimated 20,000 documents already released by investigators, confirm a fascination with guns, violence, weapons and death by Harris and Klebold.
Some victims' families have long maintained that the boys' plans should have been unearthed in advance, and continue to call for full disclosure of all information relevant to the shootings.
Police refused to release videos and audiotapes made by the pair amid fears they could spark copycat killings.
Two die in US school shooting
Thursday April 24th, 2007
A 14-year-old boy has killed his head teacher in a shooting incident at a school in the American state of Pennsylvania, before turning the gun on himself.
Students were traumatised by the attack Police officers were called to the Red Lion Junior School shortly before the start of lessons following reports of gunfire in the school cafeteria.
They found two victims - the student and the school principal, Dr Eugene Segro.
The principal was taken to hospital, but pronounced dead on arrival.
The police say the boy, who has not been named, had come to school carrying several handguns.
A number of other students were in the cafeteria at the time of the shooting - they are receiving counselling.
At this stage there is no indication of a possible motive.
This is the latest in a string of fatal shootings at American schools.
It comes almost exactly four years after the killings at Columbine High School in Colorado in which 14 students and a teacher died.
1999: Students 'kill dozens' at Denver school
A shooting spree by two American high school students is feared to have left up to 25 people dead and injured at least 15 others.
The students, wearing balaclavas and trench coats, rampaged through Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado, firing automatic weapons and throwing homemade bombs.
The bodies of the two suspects, who had apparently shot themselves, were later found in the library.
Explosive devices are said to have been found on or near the suspects' bodies.
They have been named as Eric Harris, 18, and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold.
'Trench coat mafia'
The pair are said to have belonged to a group known as the "trench coat mafia" who boasted about owning guns and were alienated from the other children.
One girl told police she was in the library when one of the boys burst in and began firing shots.
"He said he would kill everyone who had been mean to him and his friends over the last year," she said.
Other witnesses said the gunmen were targeting students from ethnic minorities and popular athletes.
As FBI agents and specialist firearms teams made their way through the carnage, a bomb set on a time device exploded.
At least 12 other bombs were found throughout the school, said police.
Three people believed to be friends of the suspects were arrested and were led away in handcuffs.
But a police spokeswoman said they were not thought to be directly involved in the shootings.
Columbine High School - which has 1,800 pupils - is situated in the middle-class suburb of Littleton.
US President Bill Clinton has sent his condolences to the town.
"The prayers of the American people are with you," he said
Timeline: US school
shootings
The BBC News website charts the history of gun violence
in US schools.
April 2007: A gunman shoots dead at least 20 people
at the campus of Virginia Tech university in Virginia.
October 2006: A 32-year-old gunman shoots dead at
least five girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania, before
killing himself
September 2006: Gunman in Colorado shoots and
fatally wounds a teenage schoolgirl, then kills himself; two
days later a teenager kills the headteacher of a school in
Cazenovia, Wisconsin
November 2005: Student in Tennessee shoots dead an
assistant principal and wounds two other administrators
March 2005: Minnesota schoolboy kills nine, then
shoots himself
May 2004: Four people injured in shooting at a
school in Maryland
April 2003: Teenager shoots dead head-teacher at a
Pennsylvania school, then kills himself
March 2001: Pupil opens fire at a school in
California, killing two students
February 2000: Six-year-old girl shot dead by
classmate in Michigan
November 1999: Thirteen-year-old girl shot dead by a
classmate in New Mexico
May 1999: Student injures six pupils in shoot-out in
Georgia
April 1999: Two teenagers shoot dead 12 students and
a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine School in
Colorado
June 1998: Two adults hurt in shooting by teenage
student at high school in Virginia
May 1998: Fifteen-year-old boy shoots himself in the
head after taking a girl hostage
May 1998: Fifteen-year-old shoots dead two students
in school cafeteria in Oregon
April 1998: Fourteen-year-old shoots dead a teacher
and wounds two students in Pennsylvania
March 1998: Two boys, 11 and 13, kill four girls and
a teacher in Arkansas
December 1997: Fourteen-year-old boy kills three
students in Kentucky
October 1997: Sixteen-year-old boy stabs mother,
then shoots dead two students at school in Mississippi,
injuring several others
esinislma.com + BBC + Agencies
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