Virginia Tech Shooting

This is an opinion piece.

April 16, 2007 started off like any Patriots Day for me here in Massachusetts. No classes, so I woke up around 11am and turned on the Red Sox game. They were on a rain delay. It was a soggy Marathon Monday, but more importantly Free Quart Day at Cold Stone Creamery. So, I set off with my friends braving the elements for free ice cream, and high fiving runners on their way to the finish line as they passed.

It wasn't until when I returned to my apartment around 4 that afternoon that I had any idea of the carnage that had unfolded at Virginia Tech that morning.

CNN was reporting that at total of 32 people were killed. A student has shot and killed 2 students around 7:30am and then went on a shooting spree a couple hours later. Its difficult to imagine the horror that faced the students and faculty of this college.

It wasn't until later that night while I was reading the New Bedford Standard Times online did I realize that I had a friend at Virgina Tech. Catherine Lawton is the sister of my friend Hallisey. Kate is a graduate student at VT, and she is thankfully alright.

Even more frightening is the notion that this could have happened anywhere. It happened in Virginia, but what means it couldn't have been in Boston? This will serve as a wake up call to colleges across the nation that this is a real threat. Campus security needs to be stepped up on every campus. Boston colleges have taken this to heart as they have agreed to a summer training program with the Boston Police Dept.

News stations and papers came to Emerson yesterday during the campus' moment of silence. Virginia Tech shooting comes home The pictures and video on this site are from my broadcast journalism class.

Life was senselessly cut down in its prime. My thoughts and prayers are with all the families affected by this tragedy.