The American Mind

Someone when on a killing spree at Virginia Tech killing 22 over a two-hour period:

At least 22 people were killed Monday in a shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus, police said. They said the gunman was among the dead.

In addition to those killed, officials said at least 28 people were wounded.

…

Virginia Tech reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. local time at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

At least one student was killed in the dorm and others were killed in the classroom, Flinchum said.

After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed.

“22 Dead in Va. Tech Shooting Rampage”

UPDATE: NBC News reports 31 including the gunman were killed. More than 50 were shot. NBC News also gives us a view into one of the classrooms where students were attacked:

A student in the engineering class describe an “unreal” scene with “blood pretty much everywhere.”

“None of us thought it could have been gunshots,” the student, who identified himself as Trey Perkins, told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing in a telephone interview. “… I’m not sure how long it lasted. It seemed like a really long time.”

Perkins said the gunman never said a word. “He didn’t say, ‘Get down.’ He didn’t say anything.” He just started shooting.”

The gunman left the classroom and then tried to return, but students kept him out by bracing the door closed with their feet. “He started to try to come in again and started shooting through the door,” Perkins said, but hit no one.

“I got on the ground and I was just thinking, like, there’s no way I’m going to survive this,” Perkins said. “All I could keep thinking of was my mom.”

An angle being looked at is Virginia Tech’s possible slow response to the first shootings at 7 a.m.:

Some students bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time, two hours after the bloodshed began.

“What happened today this was ridiculous,” student Jason Piatt told CNN. He said the first warning from the university of a shooting on campus came in an e-mail about two hours after the first deadly burst of gunfire. “While they’re sending out that e-mail, 22 more people got killed,” Piatt said.

“Gunman Kills 30 on Virginia Tech Campus” [via Hot Air]