I live in Montgomery County, 20 minutes from Va Tech, and I am in town (Blacksburg) 2-3 times a week. I grew up here, have worked at Tech, have friends who work there, and hang out there. This is just more then I can comprehend.
When I awoke today and turned on the tv and computer, I heard of the shooting, soon followed by the possibilty of 20 dead. Flashback to August and another gunman hiding at VT, only two dead that time.
By this afternoon they had announced that 33 have died, and 15 are still hospitialized, I believe 4-5 are extremely critical. We have had high winds, so the medical helicopters were unable to fly victums to the nearest trauma center, which would then be a 45 minute or so drive.
Last week the police were at a local restaurant and waited tables for charity. Today I was bombarded with images of these same people running with big guns and fearful faces.
Ironically, I did a google search about my area to describe it for another group just yesterday. One of the headings read "Progressive small town living at its best".
This is so surreal - this area has such a wonderful small town feel contrasted against the troubling images of this beautiful campus being stormed with police, and footage with gunfire.
My heart goes out to the victums and their families.
