Virginia Tech

The front page of the Virginia Tech website:

University Advisory:
Shootings close campus; gunman deceased

04/16/2007, Updated 12:40 p.m.

Two shootings on campus today have left 22 confirmed dead, including students.

Families wishing to reunite with students are suggested to meet at the Inn at Virginia Tech. The university is planning a convocation for tomorrow at noon at Cassell Coliseum for the university community to come together to begin to deal with the tragedy.

Counseling is available in the Bowman Room in the Merriman Center (part of the athletic complex) for employees who seek assistance following today’s events.

All faculty and staff have been released and asked to go home effective immediately.

The university will open tomorrow at 8 a.m. but classes are cancelled.

yeah, I've been watching this all morning. Reports are saying now that it's up to 29 or 32 (depending on the news site doing the reporting). Fark had some pretty chilling by-the-minute commentary by VaTech-ers hunkering down in their dorms and offices, listening to gunshots.

As the day comes to an end, the count seems to be 33 people, including the shooter. It's always interesting with events like this how the massive information pipeline we sit on top of suddenly slows to a trickle. It's taken most of the day even to count the dead, and the reconstruction and analysis of events will take days, probably weeks.