Blood and confusion

WASHINGTON – Student Tiffany Otay will long remember the chilling sense of dread she felt as she huddled with classmates in a room at Virginia Tech University while death stalked the hallways below.

“I guess everybody was like freaking out, hysterical,” Otay told CNN after a gunman, apparently acting alone, struck down 32 other people before dying himself in the worst school shooting rampage in US history. “At one point we heard screaming because people were running out of the building and at this point, we were all kind of frightened,” Otay said.”Who knows if the shooter was going to come up to the next floor?” Blood, confusion and panic filled the campus of the venerable southern university on a blustery spring morning as the gunman first opened fire in a dormitory than re-surfaced two hours later in an engineering studies hall.”This is an emergency.This is an emergency.Take shelter indoors immediately.Stay away from windows and remain inside,” loudspeakers blared across the 1 040 hectare campus, which had been closed off.The chaos was captured in dramatic cell phone video footage that picked up the clatter of bullets fired in the attack, far deadlier than the notorious 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Colorado.Television showed heavily armed police rushing across the grounds under a light snowfall and a fleet of ambulances pulling up while students huddled for safety, furiously exchanging e-mails and text messages.A student who identified himself only as “Paul” posted on the web an account provided by his girlfriend Kate who was in class in Norris Hall when the gunman burst in and sent students scrambling for cover beneath the desks.”He then shot at the class somewhere between eight to 12 times and then left,” Paul said, adding that Kate was hit by a stray bullet in the hand.”The gunman came back and tried to get in, but because of the barricade couldn’t and proceeded to shoot at the door at hip level, while Kate and other classmates were at ground level,” Paul said.Kostayne Link told the Roanoke Times newspaper she was headed to a class in Norris Hall when some 15 police cars passed by with their sirens blaring, followed by two ambulances and a team of police commandos.”We heard a couple gunshots and we started running,” she said.There were literally, like, 300, 400 students just running away from the site.”Student Matt Waldron got a phone call from a friend in another fire zone – Iraq.”He’s a soldier over there, just making sure that everybody is okay,” Waldron told CNN.”I’m sure today everybody got a lot of calls from their family and friends …It’s a tragedy.”Little is known of the gunman who carried out the assault, and there was no word on how he prepared and carried out the attack.Fingers were already being pointed at the gun culture prevalent in Virginia and in particular at Virginia Tech University which is home to a proud tradition of military cadets.But for students like Tiffany Otay, recalling the ordeal of Norris Hall, the healing will take quite a while.”I really don’t want to go back to campus anytime soon,” she said.”Especially to that building.”Nampa-AFP”At one point we heard screaming because people were running out of the building and at this point, we were all kind of frightened,” Otay said.”Who knows if the shooter was going to come up to the next floor?” Blood, confusion and panic filled the campus of the venerable southern university on a blustery spring morning as the gunman first opened fire in a dormitory than re-surfaced two hours later in an engineering studies hall.”This is an emergency.This is an emergency.Take shelter indoors immediately.Stay away from windows and remain inside,” loudspeakers blared across the 1 040 hectare campus, which had been closed off.The chaos was captured in dramatic cell phone video footage that picked up the clatter of bullets fired in the attack, far deadlier than the notorious 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Colorado.Television showed heavily armed police rushing across the grounds under a light snowfall and a fleet of ambulances pulling up while students huddled for safety, furiously exchanging e-mails and text messages.A student who identified himself only as “Paul” posted on the web an account provided by his girlfriend Kate who was in class in Norris Hall when the gunman burst in and sent students scrambling for cover beneath the desks.”He then shot at the class somewhere between eight to 12 times and then left,” Paul said, adding that Kate was hit by a stray bullet in the hand.”The gunman came back and tried to get in, but because of the barricade couldn’t and proceeded to shoot at the door at hip level, while Kate and other classmates were at ground level,” Paul said.Kostayne Link told the Roanoke Times newspaper she was headed to a class in Norris Hall when some 15 police cars passed by with their sirens blaring, followed by two ambulances and a team of police commandos.”We heard a couple gunshots and we started running,” she said.There were literally, like, 300, 400 students just running away from the site.”Student Matt Waldron got a phone call from a friend in another fire zone – Iraq.”He’s a soldier over there, just making sure that everybody is okay,” Waldron told CNN.”I’m sure today everybody got a lot of calls from their family and friends …It’s a tragedy.”Little is known of the gunman who carried out the assault, and there was no word on how he prepared and carried out the attack.Fingers were already being pointed at the gun culture prevalent in Virginia and in particular at Virginia Tech University which is home to a proud tradition of military cadets.But for students like Tiffany Otay, recalling the ordeal of Norris Hall, the healing will take quite a while.”I really don’t want to go back to campus anytime soon,” she said.”Especially to that building.”Nampa-AFP