Worst U.S. shooting ever kills 33 on Va. campus

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Campus, community left stunned
Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine cut short a trade visit to Asia to return to the state and declared a state of emergency in Blacksburg to free up resources for the investigation.

“I have the greatest confidence that while it will be a very, very difficult time on that campus, the spirit will remain strong,” Kaine said in a telephone interview with NBC affiliate WSLS-TV of Roanoke.

Students described a stunned campus and surrounding community after the shootings.

“It was like Columbine just flashed in my head,” said Brent Noll, a student from Virginia Beach. “Police cars were just coming from all different directions at speeds like 70 miles per hour.

Noll told NBC affiliate WAVY-TV if Hampton Roads that he was only 70 yards away when two police cars raced up outside the engineering building. “They got out of the car and took their shotguns out and started firing,” he said.

Noll said it was likely that he and many other Virginia Tech students knew some of the victims.

“We all know people in the engineering buildings. Engineering is one of the most popular majors here,” he said. “Such a quiet town — nothing ever happens big here.”

Students and faculty at Virginia Tech were already on edge before the shootings Monday. Police said that there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks but that they had not determined a link to the shootings.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus was closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Virginia Tech area. A sheriff’s deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus.