First Victim of Massacre Identified

[hang a left]

'Personable' professor among shooting victims

By Greg Miller
Los Angeles Times


WASHINGTON -- Monday's session of the class in introductory German was nearly an hour old when the shooter entered the classroom in Norris Hall and fired dozens of rounds.

One of the first was aimed at the head of the teacher, Christopher J. Bishop, who wore his hair long, rode his bike to campus and worked alongside his wife in the foreign languages department at Virginia Tech.

Authorities had not publicly identified any victims as of late Monday, but colleagues confirmed that Bishop, 35, was among the 33, including the shooter, killed during the rampage.

His friends said they were struggling to comprehend the violent death of an instructor who was known for his gentle manner and generosity toward students.

snip>

http://www.roanoke.com/vtvictims/wb/113335

The site has lots on information from today.

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. What a terribly sad story

[emilyg]

2. So sad

Condolences to families and friends.

[rasputin1952]

3. The first in a long list of people tragically killed for nothing...

;(

[melissaf]

4. My question at this point is

why did the shooter target this particular class? Students were reporting that the shooter a) peeked in once or twice before he entered and opened fire, and b) he tried to enter the classroom _again_ and, when he couldn't open the door, he fired several shots at the door before he gave up. That, to me, says this act was seriously premeditated. Why go back _and_ waste ammo firing at the door?

Sad, sad, sad.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. "Why go back _and_ waste ammo firing at the door?"

Because there were people still alive in there.

[melissaf]

12. But did he shoot everyone on the entire floor?

Was that what he was trying to do? I realize that we can't say for sure, since the guy's dead, but there might be some pattern that someone can (in the future) figure out.

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. I'm sure the great hermeneutic minds of the internets will come up with some pattern

to explain something.

[pimpbot]

10. i dont think that accurate

The girl that was in the class that was interviewed on CNN said they had to hold the door shut since it wouldn't lock.

Most classes would leave the door open during class unless a test was being given.

[melissaf]

14. I didn't say the door was locked

I said the guy couldn't get back into the room. And that was because several students were holding the door shut, at least according to one of the witnesses, who was also one of the door-holders.

[pimpbot]

17. Gotcha

Sorry I misread. It seems to me that he thought his target was in that classroom or something. The fact he went to the dorm first and then to class makes me think he was looking for someone in particular.

[melissaf]

20. That's what I think, too

I think it's very odd that he seemed so focused on this one classroom. But then, he might have been doing this to every closed door he came across. It's hard to speculate when we have so few details about what really happened inside the building.

[rainbow4321]

27. Granted this is just one of many rumors floated today

but there was one website (I'll have to look again) that said the woman who broke up w/ the alleged shooter had started seeing someone else. My first thought was, if this is true, was the "other guy" in one of the classes the gunman targeted?? Maybe what the "peeking in" was about...was he looking for a specific person??

edited for this link:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2007170635,00.html

Students said he first killed his ex and her new lover at Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg. The slaughter began at 7.15am when the gunman opened fire in a dormitory.

Pupils were ordered to remain indoors as cops swarmed in. But two hours later the killer re-emerged in the university’s engineering building and began firing indiscriminately into classrooms.

One of the dormitory victims was named locally as student Ryan Clark, who died with an unnamed woman.

[LostinVA]

34. The dead boy in the dorm was the RA, not a BF

Jeebus.


It's THE SUN.

[lostnotforgotten]

5. Just Wait Till The Administration Spins This As A Sleeper Terrorist Controlled By Al Qaida

You know they are desperately trying all the angles.

[Ignacio Upton]

7. Nah, the guy is Chinese

And since China is a large nuclear nation that holds a lot of our debt, we won't be seeing a "yellow peril" campaign from him any time soon.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Oh shut up

I mean seriously. Shut up.

Think for two minutes. Take a breath. Get your head straight. In the face of this, that's all you can think about.

Jesus.

[lostnotforgotten]

18. I Blame Most, If Not All Of The World's Problems, On Freepers Like Bush

Hey, they blame everything on Clinton.

Turn About is fair play.

[alcibiades_mystery]

23. When your opponent is a moron

Turn about - while fair play - is self-defeating stupidity.

[lostnotforgotten]

25. He Holds All The Cards Not People Like Me - I Can Only Vote And We All See How That Worked

eom

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. So that's license to behave

like a buffoon?

Hey, man. Whatever floats your boat. Be aware that some find such callousness a bit jarring at times like this, however.

[lostnotforgotten]

30. Bush Is The Buffoon - We The People Are The Chroniclers

Seems you are off base on this one.

[alcibiades_mystery]

33. When you tie every event in the world to Bush somehow

Then you are the buffoon. When you can't see the independent tragedy of this event at VT, you are not only acting like a buffoon, but like a callous, thoughtless fool.

[pimpbot]

8. Two more professors identified

In Memoriam

Professor Kevin Granata and Professor Liviu Librescu

Who died on April 16, 2007 while serving Virginia Tech and ESM


http://www.esm.vt.edu/

[Justice]

21. Interesting Professors in ESM Dept are from all over the world

well not all over, but several are from outside the US. A great melting pot.

[Scurrilous]

32. Israeli killed in Virginia massacre

One of victims in Virginia Tech shooting rampage Monday is Prof Liviu Librescu, senior researcher at university. Librescu was killed after he stayed behind his class to block door and protect students. Massacre claimed lives of 32 people

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3388753,00.html



<snip>

"Prof Liviu Librescu, a senior researcher and lecturer at Virginia Tech, is among the 32 people who were killed during a shooting rampage at the university Monday.

His wife, Marlina, and two sons, Arieh and Joe, have already begun making arrangements for his burial in Israel.

One of Prof Librescu's students, Alec Calhoun, who was with him at the classroom when the shooting started, told AP that at about 9:05 am, he and classmates heard "a thunderous sound from the classroom next door, what sounded like an enormous hammer."

When students realized the sounds were gunshots, Calhoun said, they started flipping over desks for hiding places. Others dashed to the windows of the second-floor classroom, kicking out the screens and jumping from the ledge of the room.

Calhoun said that just before he climbed out the window, he turned to look at the professor (Librescu), who had stayed behind to block the door.

Librescu's wife drove him to work on Monday, and he was killed about an hour later. His daughter-in-law Ayala, who is married to his son, Joe, told Ynet: "I heard he blocked the door of the classroom he was teaching… he must have realized that the murderer was approaching. He saved his students and was killed by gunshots."

[Critters2]

I was a French major in college

and our foreign language department was SOOO close--like a family. Much more so than the history dept (my other major). Don't know why. Many of the profs were foreign nationals, so maybe they tended to socialize together, and we students were just included in that community.

I shudder to think how devastating this sort of thing would have been. Really shattering. Can't imagine how the students and colleagues of this gentleman must be feeling.

This just breaks my heart.

[Critters2]

11. I was a French major in college

and our foreign language department was SOOO close--like a family. Much more so than the history dept (my other major). Don't know why. Many of the profs were foreign nationals, so maybe they tended to socialize together, and we students were just included in that community.

I shudder to think how devastating this sort of thing would have been. Really shattering. Can't imagine how the students and colleagues of this gentleman must be feeling.

This just breaks my heart.

[blonndee]

13. Here is another

and actually the first identified. This was the RA who was killed in the first shooting.

Columbia County student among dead
By Preston Sparks | Columbia County Bureau Chief
Monday, April 16, 2007 5:04 p.m.

A student from Columbia County is among the dead at a Virginia college where the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history occurred Monday.

Ryan Clark, a student at Virginia Tech and a resident of Old Petersburg Road in Martinez, was fatally shot, said Columbia County Coroner Vernon Collins. Mr. Clark is among at least 31 people who have been confirmed dead at Virginia Tech, including the shooter, who has not been named, according to Associated Press reports.

The shootings occurred at a coed dormitory and an engineering building on campus. Mr. Collins said he believes Mr. Clark was shot at the dormitory in the first string of shootings.

Mr. Clark is the son of Stan and Letitie Clark, of Martinez. Mr. Collins said Mr. Clark's family, including a twin brother, have been notified of his death.

...

photo at link. So very sad.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/latest/lat_041607_TechStudent.shtml

[pimpbot]

15. Yes, a friend of mine from school sent me his filebox

There is a picture of him. I didnt want to post anything until it was publicly confirmed.

[blonndee]

16. What a handsome young man he was. I read another story

somewhere (maybe from the VT paper) and another student described him as "a happy guy." :cry:

[melissaf]

19. And he came out to try to help

when whatever situation between the shooter and the other victim happened. I think that also speaks to the kind of person he must have been.

[uppityperson]

22. oh hell. RIP. Tomorrow's news will be very sad, very personal.

I am so sorry.

[charlie]

26. NY Times identifies an Emily Hilscher

as one of the two killed in the earlier attack.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17virginia.htm

Don't know if this is her, but this is the MySpace page for Emily Hischer of Woodville, VA:

http://profile.myspace.com/19406792

[Reverend_Smitty]

28. That myspace appears to be her...

there are quite a few RIP messages in the picture section...this is all just too sad

[northofdenali]

31. Roanoke.com also has a condolence guest book.

http://www.legacy.com/roanoke/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonID=87298850

And for those who haven't done so yet, go to http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng and light a candle (with thanks to DU'er temperancedissent).