Virginia Tech shooting leaves 22 dead, 28 injured

An unidentified individual is carried out of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., Monday, after a shooting incident. Shootings in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech resulted in multiple fatalities. (Alan Kim, The Roanoke Times/AP Photo)

This is off MSNBC News:

BLACKSBURG, Va. - A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. The gunman also was killed.

“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.”

The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

Two unidentified injured occupants are carried out of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Monday, April 16, 2007. A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people before he was killed, police said. (AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Alan Kim)

Some but not all the dead were students. One student was killed in a dorm and the others were killed in the classroom, said Virginia Tech Police Chief W.R. Flinchum.

The name of the gunman was not released. It was not known if he was a student.

NBC's Pete Williams said two law enforcement officials told him the gunman killed himself. They also said the gunman used two 9-mm handguns during the rampage, Williams reported. He said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was trying to track the weapons.

Up until Monday, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the 28th-floor observation deck of a clock tower and opened fire. He killed 16 people before he was gunned down by police. In the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo., in 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

After Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech, all entrances to the campus were closed.

I'm also reminded of a third massacre that took place on a university campus--Kent State. I'm also wondering whether some type of gun control laws could have prevented this shooting--perhaps background checks, identification and registration, or even safety training. I don't know yet, since background details on this gunman have not been released yet. What concerns me here is that this gunman carried two automatic pistols (If they were 9mm pistols, then each pistol could carry between 8-15 rounds in the magazine), plus extra magazines for these pistols. That is a lot of lead here. So maybe it is time to start looking into some serious gun control here.