School Killings In Virginia

At least 22 dead in campus rampage - police
Monday, 16 April 2007 18:32

At least 22 people, including the suspect, were killed in a shooting rampage on the US campus of Virginia Tech University.

Police and university officials have confirmed the death toll in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The shootings took place in two separate areas of the campus and police believe a single gunman was responsible.

Police said they were investigating whether the gunman killed himself or was killed by authorities.

Most of the shootings took place at a part of the campus called Norris Hall, according to campus police chief Wendell Finchum.

Classes have been cancelled tomorrow, according to the university's website.

'This is a tragedy of monumental proportions,' Virginia Tech president Charles Steger told reporters.

It is one of the deadliest shooting rampages in the US, a country known for its loose gun ownership laws.

The last one of this scale on a university campus was when Charles Whitman went to top of the tower in the middle of the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas, on 1 August, 1966, and opened fire on people 27 stories below.

He killed 15 people, including his mother and wife the night before, and wounded 31 others.

Virginia Tech, with 26,000 students, is located in the southwest corner of the state, about 240 miles (390 km) from Washington DC.

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