Virginia Tech: Campus Massacre Update

In case you've been living under a rock for the last 24 hours... The worst mass murder in American history occurred yesterday morning between 7:15am ET and noon. Thirty-three people are dead after a gunman opened fire on faculty and students at Virginia Tech. Two people are dead at West Ambler Johnston dorm; Thirty more were murdered (some execution style) across campus at Norris Hall; and the gunman shot himself in the head, dying immediately.

Geraldo Rivera (FOX News) says local LE say the Facebook.com page mentioned earlier is NOT that of massacre gunman. They say the person shown on the page is not the person who was found dead (by suicide) in Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus.
Megyn Kelly (FOX News) used information from Facebook to try and track down information on the individual from the college students' social networking website. Her staff actually went out and tried to find the person shown on Facebook.com. They were unable to find him at two addresses in the Blacksburg, VA area. However, they gained no leads that this person was the gunman.
In fact, Wayne Chiang, owner of the Facebook webpage has gone public to "clear my [his] name". Chiang realizes his Facebook page is suspicious, but insists he is not a person of interest, nor the gunman. "It was five for five. I was Asian, I lived in (the dorm), I go to V Tech, I recently broke up with my girlfriend and I collect guns," says Chiang, who initially contacted ABC affiliate KNXV. Law enforcement officials confirm that Mr. Chiang is NOT a suspect, nor do they think he is related to the crimes that took place yesterday morning at VTech.

NOTE: Law enforcement and others are still working to find out whether or not the two crime scenes from yesterday morning are related. VTech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum has implied that there may be evidence that TWO different situations are at play -- and that the two shooting scenes were not perpetrated by the same individual.

The College Columbine: Virginia Tech's "Person of Interest"

Update: 8:07 p.m.
The highlights of the 7:30pm ET press briefing are:

• Virginia Tech Campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum has preliminary ID of gunman, but are not releasing the name.
• Recovered two weapons, but won't release the details
• ATF is comparing ballistics from West AJ and Norris Hall
• Person of interest ID'd after shooting at West Ambler Johnston. That person is not in custody. He is not known to police, according to Chief Flinchum.
• The first "person of interest" is still a person of interest -- "because he knows one of the victims" found dead in the dorm room.
• The "person of interest" is NOT a VT student
  
• The gunman found dead in Norris Hall is NOT the "person of interest" questioned in the West AJ dorm shooting.
• Murder /suicide has been ruled out at the incident in the dorm
• Chief Flinchum states that the Blacksburg Police Dept. located the "person of interest" in the dorm shooting -- and conducted an interview with him about the same time as the shootings were taking place in Norris Hall
• From the above statements, we can conclude that the police think that the shootings in West AJ are NOT related to the shootings in Norris Hall
  

Virginia Tech Massacre: The Investigation

Update: 6:00 p.m.

CollegiateMedia reports: Erin Sheehan was one of four people able to walk out of her 9:05 German class in room 207 Norris Hall. "It's a small class, about 25 people," she said. "And I would say no more than 2 people didn't show up, were absent. And of those of us that were in there today, only four of us walked out of that room, but two of us had been injured during the shooting," Sheehan said.
"It seemed so strange," Sheehan said. "Because he peaked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, somebody, before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls, and someone thought they sounded like bullets. That's when we blockaded the door to stop anyone from coming in."
"He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit. He wore a tan button up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something."
"I saw bullets hit people's body," Sheehan said. "There was blood everywhere. People in the class were passed out, I don't know maybe from shock from the pain. But I was one of only four that made it out of that classroom. The rest were dead or injured." She described.

I'm sure Virginia Tech police, along with FBI, ATF and other agencies, are investigating every aspect of the campus massacre that occurred earlier today.

• One thing they should be looking for is the gunman's car. Since it has been reported that he entered Norris Hall with two long guns and two handguns, it's more than obvious he didn't walk to campus. He had to have driven a private vehicle. Where is it and what kind of evidence does it hold?
• Since at least one of the first two victims were likely known to the gunman, police should be tracing back friends and romantic acquaintances of the female resident of the West AJ dorm.
• There is also certainly a definite link between the person living in West Ambler Johnston dorm and classrooms 205/206 on the second floor of Norris Hall.
• Another idea is that the shooter may have been a student. If so, he may have been known to some of the people who were shot in Norris Hall. Hopefully, some of them will be able to identify him by name.
• Of course, the weapons should be traceable back to where it was sold -- and possibly to the owner. By the way he was dressed and armed, it can be concluded that he intended to murder many people -- and possibly shoot it out with law enforcement.
• LE needs to look into last week's bomb threats -- to see if they are related to what happened earlier today.
  

My guess is that we will have the name of the shooter by tomorrow morning -- either officially or unofficially.

Regarding the West AJ crime scene: Before assuming that both this incident and the Norris Hall scene were perpetrated by the same person, think about this scenario... A disgruntled boyfriend goes upstairs to the 4th floor of the West AJ dorm. He kills his girlfriend, then commits suicide. In that circumstance, the two incidents would most likely not be related at all.

Virginia Tech Massacre: News Conference Details

Update: 5:16 p.m.
Officials are holding their second major news conference of the day -- in relation to the murder of 32 students and faculty on the Virginia Tech University campus in Blacksburg, VA.

Here are the highlights:

• VT.edu is pretty much overwhelmed and not available.
• Virginia Tech has arranged for counseling for faculty, staff and students.
• Charles Steger, university president, spoke with President Bush within the last hour. He has also spoken with the Governor twice.

Confirmed details of the 48 dead and wounded:

• 31 deaths inside Norris Hall -- including gunman
• 15 other victims injured or wounded
  
• 2 confirmed dead in West Ambler Johnston -- in addition to 31 @ Norris Hall (one female victim / one male victim)
• West AJ was closed immediately, but the rest of campus was not locked down because police thought incident was isolated and that shooter had left the dorm
  
• Gunman carried NO identification, so law enforcement have not identified him
• Students must have "swipe card" in order to enter dorms during early morning hours
  
• Anticipate being able to release list of those who were killed or injured by tomorrow
• Don't know if shooter was a student or not
• One gunman deceased, but police DON'T know if two incidents were related
• Second incident happened while police were investigating first incident.
• Norris Hall gunman committed suicide
• Suspect first shooting was domestic in nature -- both victims were found in a single West AJ dorm room (one female victim / one male victim)
  
• NO shootout between officers & gunman (despite video showing multiple law enforcement officers firing weapons towards campus buildings)
  
• Some Norris Hall doors were chained shut (from the inside) -- probably by gunman
• No one is in custody -- but active investigation is ongoing as to whether or not there are two gunmen
• Another news conference will be held tonight at around 7:00pm ET