I shall remember that terrible day forever. I got up that cold, snowy morning – Monday, April 16th 2007 – about 7:15, went down the hall and showered, and then gathered my books and stuff for my class in Norris Hall. At that time I’d no idea that there’d been people murdered right here in the other wing of my building at the same time I was in the shower. My dorm was in East Ambler Hall and those poor people had been slain in West Ambler!
I headed out around the east side of Dietrick Hall then past the War Memorial Hall, en route to Norris. Afterwards I heard that the police were called after an RA in West Ambler had reported the shootings. They’d locked down West Ambler, but when I left East Ambler on the opposite side of the building, there was nothing out of the ordinary to see. I found out later that the police had thought the killings had been an isolated incident and that the perpetrator had fled the campus, so delayed doing anything to protect the rest of us.
At that time – about ten before eight – there were quite a lot of us Hokies (students) on the move, but I didn’t hear anyone mention what had happened or even see anyone behaving different than usual.
Anyway, I reached my classroom in Norris Hall, and we all settled down with our books and notepads to begin the two-hour session. Suddenly – during a quiet spell while we were taking notes – I became aware of noises that just “didn’t fit”. I can’t explain it any better. Everyday background noises are one thing; you get used to them and sort of don’t really hear them. They’re just there and your brain accepts them and moves on almost without registering – noises like a door banging somewhere, voices getting nearer then fading as people pass down the hall, other students rustling papers, etc.
But, at around 9:20 or so, several of us looked up sharply and at each other as we heard a scream, then what sounded like gunshots, shouts, screams, more gunshots.
In those few moments I think my brain was struggling to cope. Was this real? The professor looked up from his book, glanced around the room to see several questioning expressions on faces, then strode to the door to take a look outside. Those awful sounds were louder now. I think we were all realizing something terrible was happening, and in the building!
Then, Melanie’s cellphone buzzed. She shouted: “My God, there’s a shooter in this building!” In that instant we all realized this was real, it was happening in the same building and that we were in danger.
The professor was the first to act – I think the rest of us, whilst fear was taking hold, were still coming to terms with the reality of the situation and were behaving a bit like headless chickens – getting hyped up but sort of “running on the spot” while the tension was building by the second. Closing the door, he turned to the class and yelled: “Get under your desks – now!” As we were scrambling to do just that, there was a commotion outside the door, it was slammed back against the wall and this guy was shooting. It was unbelievably loud!
Kids were screaming and crying, as I huddled as low to the floor as I could and heard bullets bouncing around the room. I could only see the guy’s legs and feet as he stood just inside the door. I was shaking uncontrollably, certain I was going to die. Then I could see our professor on the floor near his desk, surrounded by an impossibly large pool of blood. I felt sure he must be dead.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps running away and realized the shooting had stopped. For what seemed like ages but must have been about 30 seconds everything was still apart from some sobbing nearby. Then I could hear police and ambulance sirens – lots of them! Huddled under my desk I closed my eyes and said a little prayer. One by one we cautiously got out from under the desks, still terrified but all unscathed apart from our poor brave professor who had indeed died in the attack. Just a few minutes later, more terrifying noises of running feet approaching, but then two cops with riot guns appeared in the doorway and we knew it was over.
They herded us all to the library where we were kept along with lots of other students, and guarded by two tough-looking cops for about two hours, until we heard the gunman was dead and they let us all go.
What an awful, awful day!
