'A Gunman Is Loose on Campus'

The sign outside Ambler Johnston Hall glowed bright Monday night, offering no indication of the deadly shooting that occurred there more than 12 hours before.

A five-minute walk away in nearby Peddrew-Yates Hall, Virginia Tech freshman Laura Mandeville walked up three flights of stairs to her dorm suite, cheeks stained with tears, her voice raw and tired.

Nearly 50 students had come together for an impromptu prayer vigil in the Peddrew-Yates lobby at the end of a day filled with panic, confusion and fear. One of the residents had apparently escaped from a Norris Hall classroom by jumping out of a window. But another, the second floor resident's assistant, was still missing.

Mandeville, 19, slept through the first shooting. Without morning classes, she is used to sleeping in on Mondays. This time she was supposed to be up for a 9 a.m. breakfast with friends, but skipped it, feeling run down by a sinus infection.

When she finally awoke around 10:30 a.m., she had a concerned voicemail from her mother, but no other hint of the tragedy that had by then unfolded in Norris Hall across campus. Another resident, 18-year-old Katie Horner, broke the news.

"She actually came in and made sure I was okay and told me that I wasn't supposed to go to class because there was a shooter on the loose," Mandeville said.

She logged onto her computer to find Instant Messages from friends warning her to stay inside. By this time, Virginia Tech officials had sent three e-mail messages about the shootings, none of which Mandeville had yet read.

Date: Mon, 16 Apr:26:24 -0400
From: Unirel@vt.edu
Reply-To: Unirel@vt.edu
Subject: Shooting on campus.
To: Multiple recipients

A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.

The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case. Contact Virginia Tech Police at

Stay attuned to the www.vt.edu. We will post as soon as we have more information.

Date: Mon, 16 Apr:50:07 -0400
From: Unirel@vt.edu
Reply-To: Unirel@vt.edu
Subject: PLease stay put
To: Multiple recipients

A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows

Date: Mon, 16 Apr:16:40 -0400
From: Unirel@vt.edu
Reply-To: Unirel@vt.edu
Subject: All Classes Canceled; Stay where you are
To: Multiple recipients

Virginia Tech has canceled all classes. Those on campus are asked to remain where there are, lock their doors and stay away from windows. Persons off campus are asked not to come to campus.

"They had, like, once sentence and you'd keep wondering, 'Why? What's going on? What happened to these people that got shot, did they die?'" Mandeville said afterward.

With e-mail difficult to access, phone lines jammed and the dorm under lockdown, Mandeville and her friends watched the news unfold on television, shocked to eventually learn that 33 people had died. Though angry that the campus hadn't been shut down sooner, she and other students seemed sympathetic to the police.

"If they had closed all of campus then nobody would have been in Norris in the first place," Mandeville said. "But I think the police did all they could have."

At the end of a day she compares to 9/11, after hours glued to the television set, after unleashing a wave of tears at the Peddrew-Yates vigil, after two shooting incidents and bomb threats too, Mandeville says she wouldn't think of transferring from Virginia Tech.

"Why would I do that? I love it here," Mandeville said, determined not to let fear get the better of her. "You walk across [the] Drill Field, you're always wondering if you're going to see somebody you know or who you get to smile at. You don't want to cross the Drill Field saying, 'Oh, I wonder if this guy's gonna shoot me.'"