Prayers for all those at VA TECH

[mrs. red]

this is one of the saddest stories...

prayers for those in the community, the students, parents and friends of those at Virginia Tech....

"May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding be with you"... and keep you

[nonesuche]

Thank you for starting this thread Mrs, this is incomprehensible and I pray these students and staff as well as their families can endure this tragedy. God bless each of them and hopefully our prayers can help in some small way to sustain them.

[Sam]

My prayers go out to the familes of the slain students and those who were injured. My prayers also for the police who had to witness the carnage.

 I even pray for the family of the gunmen. It is such a tragedy for all.

I also pray for the student who were not injured. This will live in there minds forever just as 911 does in ours.

[thecuz]

i am just getting home and seeing the news....what a tragedy...every parents worse nightmare
so heartbreaking!

[2NJSons_Mom]

Being home, I had had the TV on watching weather reports, so I heard very early today.  It's beyond belief.  I kept saying to my husband, if family of students heard earlier today and had not yet heard from their son/daughter/spouse or whatever, I cannot imagine the panic.  

Prayers for all,for understanding how this can happen and some hope of prevention.

[Dihannah1]

This is so horribly tragic.  I can't stop watching the news.  My prayers to all those kids and families...

[MsVada]

We got our power back today and I am just shocked at the news!

My heart goes out to all that are affected by this tragedy

[Angiex911dsptchr]

My prayer to all those affected by this horrid, senseless tradedy.  
I am praying as well for the sick childs parents who commited this horrific crime.  

 We have had some local kids in my area who were also at the school.
 One girl who was shot in the stomach.   Shes expected to recover.
 ANother boy.. who was in class.. went to HS with my daughter. She was a senior in HS and he was a junior. He is ok. It was in my local newspaper this morning. and I was suprised to see kids from my area here in Pa. God Bless all of those people in VA.  I cant  find the right words to post.  
 Here is the article from my local paper here in PA.

 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_503091.html

[Frijole]

God give the families and friends of those involved strength to carry on.  This is truly a tragedy.

[mrs. red]

A more fitting expression of what I tried to say, I received this via email:

 
Father, right now we acknowledge You & we acknowledge Your presence & Your sovereignty.  Father we lift up Virginia Tech & the people affected by the evil that has taken place on the campus.  We pray that Your Spirit be with them.  We pray that Your loving arms be wrapped around them & comfort them in this tragic time.  We pray for families, neighbors, & friends.  We pray for staff, professors, & administrators.  God, we pray for people.  We pray for humanity.  We pray that this event will not cause people to turn from You but it will cause a nation to run to You like they have never run before.  We pray for increased faith.  We pray for spiritual growth.  We pray for Christian fellowship & salvation of souls.  We pray that your hand will move mightily over Blacksburg, VA & over this nation.  Touch souls right now & comfort broken hearts.  Forgive us for our sins Father.  In Your Son Jesus Christ name we pray.  Amen.  

***Please forward this so that we can get a nation praying for Blacksburg, VA and for our country***

[Anna]

Lifting up all effected by this tragedy in prayer.

.

[Mere]

I understand that the "shooter" mailed a package to NBC and part of the contents will be shared on air at 6:30 p.m. on NBC News.....the package contains ramblings, pictures, and more....

[nonesuche]

As Clint van Zandt said this is Cho's way of reaching out from the grave to drag us into his twisted mind. All I can think of now is why his family didn't feel this son needed help and why our law enforcement system waits for people to commit crimes before anything can be done to avert it.

This manifesto also drags the families of the victims as well as the victims who survived, through this horror all over again. He wasn't human anymore, he had lost all sense of humanity.

Mrs thank you for the prayer, it helps.

[Tibrogargan]

My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved in this tragedy.  The families and loved ones of the students and lecturers and all the police and medical personnel who had to deal with the aftermath.

Mrs Red, thank you for posting that prayer.  It says all that we would like to express.

There were also some Australian students at that university and one girl missed being involved by having to return to her room to change shoes.  
I will  post a small article from our local newspaper just to show that we do feel involved even though we are so far away.

TASMANIA SHARES PAIN

Glenn Cordingley
April 18, 2007 12:00am

TASMANIA has offered to share what it learned from the 1996 Port Arthur massacre to help Virginia Tech deal with Monday's massacre.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has declared a state of emergency after a gunman went on the rampage at the university, gunning down 32 students before shooting himself dead.
In a letter to Mr Kaine, Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon yesterday compared the Virginia Tech massacre, the worst shooting rampage in US history, with Martin Bryant's killing of 35 people at the Port Arthur historic site in Tasmania in April, 1996.
Bryant is serving 35 life sentences at Risdon Prison, near Hobart.
"Tasmanians share the world's horror at the anguish caused by this senseless violence," Mr Lennon said in the letter.
"Following a similar incident at Port Arthur in our state we experienced how such an unexpected and tragic event can leave individuals and communities feeling deeply shocked and helpless. I offer our support and assistance, should there be any way in which Tasmania can help Virginians as they begin the long healing process that follows such a tragedy."
Mr Lennon also wrote to Virginia Tech president Charles Steger, offering support.
"We know that the road to recovery is long and painful and offer our support and assistance, should there be any way in which Tasmanians can help the Virginia Tech community cope with the aftermath of such a loss," he wrote.
"Our thoughts are with you, your staff and the students and the extended Virginia Tech community."

[mrs. red]

Tibro... thank you!

[Tibrogargan]

SHOES SAVED AUSSIE'S LIFE FROM US GUNMAN

AAPTuesday April 17, 06:51 PM

An Australian student caught up in the Virginia Tech University massacre believes a misplaced pair of shoes saved her from walking straight into the path of the gunman who killed 32 people.

Alana Fragar had the front door open and her coat on, but stopped to look for her shoes before heading off on the short walk to morning classes at the university in Blacksburg, Virginia. While looking for the shoes, she received an email alert warning students a gunman was loose on campus and to stay inside.

"[I'm] so lucky. If so many things had not happened ... I didn't have my computer working until this week. I would have just walked straight into it without knowing anything," Ms Fragar told Fairfax. "If I had have found my shoes straight away, I would have not got the email. It's just crazy."

The second-year psychology student from Sydney lives in a flat 500 metres from Norris Hall, where 30 people were shot and where she presumes at least one friend was killed and another, Clay Violand, pretended to be dead as dying classmates fell on top of him.

"I was the only one who wasn't shot," Mr Violand told Ms Fragar in a graphic email exchange. "I watched my f***ing classmates get mauled in front of me and I was the only one who wasn't shot. I feel crazy. People died on top of me. "I just pretended to be dead and people got shot in the face. I was so scared. I love you."

Ms Fragar said Mr Violand was struggling to cope with the fact he escaped death while he saw his classmates killed.

"The gunman was walking in and not saying anything at all, just opening fire and killing whoever he could and then leaving again," she told ABC Radio.

Ms Fragar's parents live in Washington DC while her sister Michelle, who is currently there on holiday, was planning to drive to Virginia to comfort her on Wednesday after being held back by storms on Tuesday.

Among around 10 Australians at Virginia Tech, Australian Under 21s basketball representative Eleanor Brentnall, 19, from Melbourne, was in the dormitory opposite the building where the gunman's first two victims were shot at around 7.15am, two hours before the Norris Hall rampage.

But Ms Brentnall, who is on a sporting scholarship at Virginia Tech, was one of many students who went to class after the first shooting, believing they were safe.

"I was on the phone with her through the night," said her mother Anne Welfare in a release issued by Basketball Australia. "She is resilient, but she's totally distressed at the unnecessary loss of life.  She's in shock to some extent; there's just so much grief. Eleanor said that the police were yelling and people were running for their lives."

Australian research engineer Christopher Hull said he heard several bursts of rapid gunfire from his office adjoining Norris Hall. "About 10 o'clock I heard a number of gunshots, probably 15, 20 and then all of a sudden students came running out of the building," Mr Hull told ABC Radio.

"Some appeared hurt and then there were more shots and very soon after that heavily-armed police turned up. There were more gunshots and then injured people were being brought out and taken away in ambulances."

Staff were told to stay in their offices, to lock their doors, turn out the lights and stay away from the windows, he said.

"I felt nervous, but I think we felt a lot worse when we found out how many people were killed," he said.

But Mr Hull said he would return to work on Wednesday.

"I think it will be good to go back there and talk amongst ourselves and share it amongst ourselves," he said.

Queensland student Lesley Garard said she stayed in her dormitory after also receiving the email.

"It's absolutely horrible, absolutely horrible. I'm sure the next couple of days are going to be overwhelming," she told the Nine Network.

"It really hit close to home, made me think it may have been me."

She said she had always felt comfortable in Blacksburg.

"I feel safer walking around the streets of Blacksburg at night than Gympie or Brisbane," she said.

"I'm really looking forward to coming back home now more than ever."

But she said the tragedy would not stop her completing her communications degree.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra said it had not received any calls from relatives unable to contact family members.

[LouiseVargas]

Nonesuche asked why Cho's family didn't feel this son needed help.  

I thought something was seriously wrong when I read his parents drove him to VTech, dropped him off and drove back home. That says he was disconnected from his parents.  Wonder how old he was when they disconnected.

Yes, the police will not arrest someone until they do a crime.

The video tapes he sent to NBC (that he made in the two hours between the first and second shooting locations) are indeed reaching out from the grave to drag us into his twisted mind.

But I wanna know. I wish I could get into his mind.

[LouiseVargas]

Tibro,

I believe in fate. If the girl had not gone back for other shoes, she would have been killed. It was not her time or fate.

[LouiseVargas]

Besides him making these videos in the two hour window, he packaged them up and went to the post office to mail them to NBC. Then he came back to kill more people. He sounds very organized to me.

[Angiex911dsptchr]

Tibro,
 I am glad that gal had to go back and get her shoes.
   This whole thing is just horrifying. I didnt get to look at this kids mainfesto he made yet. I did save the link from AOL.  
  I saw the poor kids pics that were victims,,    God Love them all.
 
 Louise. I agree. FATE.

I do feel sad for this kids parents as well.  I cant imagine.