School shootings have begun to take the United States by storm, leaving behind a path of destruction. Children as young as six years old partake in gun violence (Rosenblatt). The most widely remarked school shooting of this generation is that of Littleton,Colorado. Columbine Highschool Massacre marks a strong turning point in the gun violence being brought into school across the United States (Roberts). Since the year 1999, 262 school shootings have occurred across the United States (Roberts). The largest of these events occurred on April 16, 2007, tragedy struck on the campus of Virginia Tech College. It was nearly 8 years to the day after Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris put Columbine High school under attack. Seung-Hui Cho brought injury …show more content…
The next course of action taken by administration was sending out a mass email at 9:26 am, releasing the news of the death of two fellow classmates (CNN News). In doing such, Cho was notified that people were aware of his actions in that previous morning. He was consequently also informed that the university believed the campus to no longer be in danger, and would be continuing classes as normal. Police set up a command center on campus, predominantly focusing on Ambler Johnston Hall. At about 9:01 am, Cho left his perch at the post office and headed for the second location, Norris Hall, and began the process of his crimes at 9:40 am (Virginia Tech Review Panel 89-90). It was revealed in the incident report that Cho bound the doors of Norris Hall shut with chain-link, placing a note on them that if there was an attempt to be removed, he would detonate a bomb, killing everyone inside. This note was found by a professor and reported to the dean of the building, but never called into the police. It was thought to be an empty threat. Upon discussing this threat with the professor, the first gunshots were heard from the dean's office. The initial shots were called in at 9:42 am to the Blacksburg Police Department. The individual was transferred in an attempt to locate where the point of attack was, leaving minutes to spare where SWAT could have been dispatched. “The massacre continued for 9 minutes after the first 9-1-1 call was received by the VTPD and about 10-12 minutes in total, including a minute for processing and transferring the call to VTPD, and the time to comprehend that shots were being fired and to make the call” (Virginia Tech Review Panel