1. 0715, shooting reported at the dormitory building
2. About two hours later a further shooting is reported
Students of the school
A gunman, described as six feet tall, young looking, Asian, dressed sort of strangely, almost like a boy scout, very short-sleeved light, tan shirt and some sort of ammonition vest with black over it killed at least 30 people at one of two shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech Monday April 16th.
There were two incidents two hours apart. One was at a student dorm where two were killed and the second was at an engineering building where 30 more students and the gunman died.
Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum said that emergency services had received a call at 0715 (1215 GMT) alerting them to a shooting at the dormitory - West Ambler Johnston Hall.
He said that two hours later there was a second report of shooting, this time at the engineering building, Norris Hall.
Eyewitnesses said some students jumped from classroom windows to escape the gunfire, which triggered panic on campus.
Some of those locked down inside the university buildings were using the internet to try to glean information about what was happening.
Asked why the campus, which has more than 26,000 students, was not shut down after the first shooting, Flinchum responded that police determined "it was an isolated event to that building and the decision was made not to cancel classes at that time.
West Ambler Johnston Hall is a dormitory that houses 895 students and is located near the drill field and stadium.
Flinchum said at a Monday night news conference that they had a preliminary identification of the shooter at Norris Hall but were not releasing it.
A law enforcement source close to the investigation said a 22-caliber handgun and a 9 mm handgun were recovered at the scene.
Scott Hill, a spokesman for Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, said 17 wounded students were taken there.
It was unclear if the dead gunman was a student of the University.
This is the deadliest mass US shooting ever. Prior to the Virginia attack was in Texas in 1991 when George Hennard killed 23 people and himself in a cafeteria.
Sometimes I wonder why God lets terrible things like this happen. Why God? 32 students who woke up with hope of a better day, with dreams and aspirations, with expectations and love for life...now they are all gone. This is so sad.
May their souls rest in perfect peace, Amen.
Soon we'll know who the killer was and why he did what he did. This deeply saddens me.
