STATEMENT OF DR. CHARLES W. STEGER |
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4/16/07 [Transcribed from the video by Tara Carreon, American Buddha Online Librarian] Click here to listen to Statement of Dr. Charles W. Steger At 7:15 a.m., Virginia Tech police receive a 911 call to respond to a dormitory room at West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall. Within minutes, Virginia Tech police and the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad respond to find two gunshot victims, a male and a female inside a dormitory room within the hall. The residence hall was immediately secured by the Virginia Tech police department and students within the hall were notified and asked to remain in their rooms for their safety. Virginia Tech Police immediately secured the room for evidence collection and began questioning dorm residents and identifying potential witnesses. In the preliminary stages of the investigation it was believed the deaths were an isolated incident, domestic in nature. Blacksburg Police Department were also on the scene assisting the Virginia Tech Police with establishing a safety perimeter around the residence hall and securing Washington Street. At 7:30 a.m., investigators were following up on leads concerning a person of interest and the relation to the double homicide. Investigators from the Virginia Tech Police and Blacksburg Police were actively following up on various levels. At 8:25 the Virginia Tech Leadership Team assembles, that includes me and the other senior officers of the institution, and begin assessing the developing situation at the residence hall and determining a means of notifying students of the homicide. At 9:00 a.m. the team was briefed. They had had a chance to interview a number of witnesses by then on the situation, and Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flincham on the latest developments in the ongoing investigation. At 9:26 the Virginia Tech Community, that's all faculty and students, that's about 36,000 emails are notified of the homicide investigation and seen at West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall and asked to report any suspicious activity. The Virginia Tech Emergency Weather Line records were also transmitted and a broadcast television message was made to campus phones. A press release was drafted and posted on the Virginia Tech website. At 9:45 the Virginia Tech Police received a 911 call of a shooting at Norris Hall. This building contains faculty offices, classrooms and laboratories. The Virginia Tech Police and the Blacksburg Police immediately responded to Norris Hall. Notice and Leadership Command Center __________ police representatives of the shooting that was going on. We were actually having a meeting about the earlier shooting when we got word on the radio that another shooting was underway. Upon arrival at Norris, the officers found the front doors barricaded. Within a minute the officers breached the doors which had been chained shut from the inside. Once inside the building the officers heard gunshots. They followed the succession of gunshots to the second floor. Just as officers reached the second floor the gunshots stopped. The officers discovered the gunman who had taken his own life. There was never any engagement between the responding officers and the gunman. And at 9:55, by the same means as prior notice, Virginia Tech notified Campus Community of the second murder scene. Other notifications followed via other means.
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