Parents Demand Firing of Virginia Tech President, Police Chief Over Poor Handling of Mass Shooting

Fox News ^ | April 16, 2007

[Cecily]

John and Jennifer Shourds of Lovettsville, Va. demanded the immediate firings of University President Charles Steger and Virginia Tech Campus Police Chief W.R. Flinchum who he said "screwed up" the handling of separate shooting incidents that left 33 students dead, including the shooter.

“My God, if someone shoots somebody there should be an immediate lockdown of the campus,” said John Shourds. “They totally blew it. The president blew it, campus police blew it.”

The Shourds said they received a phone call from their daughter, Alexandra, a freshman at the college in Blacksburg, who was unsure of how to handle a vague university e-mail received around 9:20 a.m. regarding the first shooting incident that happened at the West Ambler Johnston Hall around 7:15 a.m. Later, it was learned that a lone gunman entered that hall, two buildings away from Alexandra’s dorm, and opened fire, killing two people.

[Dianna]

I still think of Derrick and pray for your family.

Thank you so much. We can certainly use the prayers. Shock takes a lot longer to wear off than I would have thought.

[blondee123]

Wow...I guess I think of a huge campus like that to be much like a city. You can shut down all of the vehicle exit and entrances possible but I can’t imagine that it would be very possible to shut down much more than that.

Well, at the very least they should have cancelled all classes til they were SURE there was NO shooter still around! They absolutely DID MISHANDLE THIS SITUATION!

[CBart95]

It is probably impossible for some to see that the desire to find and seek scapegoats is a horrible exercise in personal dishonesty and self indulgence.

If you respond to that observation in anger,you are likely to be the “guilty dog” barking first.

[Kevmo]

Then “suddenly I get next to McBride — which is right next to Norris — [where shootings took place] and I see a police SUV, a police cruiser, and a guy is running from the north area. His shirt is blood soaked. The police cruiser screams to a halt. The officer runs to the guy, grabs him and screams off.” ... Matt then made a call to the main switchboard at the school “because I have no idea what’s going on.” The operator tells him, “all we can say at this point is that you should proceed to your classes cautiously.”
***Amazing.

[M0sby]

“Well, at the very least they should have cancelled all classes til they were SURE there was NO shooter still around! They absolutely DID MISHANDLE THIS SITUATION!”

I get what you are saying...that’s one bad thing about threads that get so long..you can’t see what ELSE someone has written.
So..I gotta agree with you.
I was mostly trying to comment on the idea of “locking down the school”.

I work at a High School that is 5 BLOCKS long..it’s impossible to effectively Lock that school down.
You can lock CLASSES down...but it is pretty darn tough to lock down even ONE of our buildings...there are probably a minimum of 2-4 outside doors in EACH of the buildings that are unlocked at all times to allow students to access the hallways to the classrooms.
And we have only 1900 students and probably 15-20 buildings.
Can you imagine 26,000 students?
And HOW MANY buildings?

The story is so completely horrible.

Anyway..just wanted to write back to you.
Check out the rest of my posts on the thread if you’d like.

This community is in my prayers.

[Scarchin]

Standard procedure for a homicide does not include shutting down normal activity in an area covering many square miles and 25,000 people.

Wrong.

All Manchester city schools were locked down down a couple months agowhen they couldn't locate a student with a gun.

[rbmillerjr]

“I see the Dem “talking points” memo is already being circulated...”

You must live in Disturbia to somehow get Dem/Rep out of this one.

[america-rules]

""At a press conference, Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus and defended the university’s handling of the tragedy. "We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," Steger said. "We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."

Two people are found shot dead, and you assume that the gunman has left campus? Why?

Duh !

To get away from the crime like 99.999999999999999999% of murders do !

[kjam22]

Have you seen that cell phone video where you can hear shots being fired inside and all the cops are hiding behind trees outside. I’d fire everyone of them. The guy is in there killing people and the cops with guns to actually do something about it are outside hiding behing behind trees.

[pandoraou812]

I am truly sorry for the loss of you son. You must be a very brave woman to have been able to be so calm.......I still say the poster who said the parents had no shame, no class and were disgusting was wrong. You are correct in saying everyone reacts differently. However I still say those words are the wrong ones to call those parents. Something went horribly wrong yesterday. I don’t know if it could have been stopped or why it even happened. My prayers for all the victims & their families.

[pandoraou812]

Thank you for saying I sound like a good parent...I am no young parent though...My children range from 29 (adopted son) a 28 yr old daughter,a 25 yr old (adopted son) and my last 2 sons 24 & 20 years old. My daughter was a shock when I found out I was pregnant at 41 years old. So I have seen how things change. Long gone are the days when my older ones were allowed to go outside alone and play in the neighborhood. I do happen to live in a great neighborhood where we all take turns watching each other children . Maybe because my daughter was born so late in my life I tend to be over protective to a certain point. As she is my husband’s only child I think he is worse. She also has 3 of as she calls them....”the brothers” that look out for her. They are very involved with her as my health isn’t the best. I have been very blessed with my family & my life. ~Pandora~

[Southerngl]

Oops, my post 196 was a reply to GovernmentShrinker’s post 103, not to Southerngl. Sorry about that.
**************

No problemo!

[pandoraou812]

I really don’t know. The buzzer & video camera isn’t going to do much. As you pointed out , a known parent could get in. Or the children could be fired at while on the playground. There are so many what if’s. You just go on & hope for the best...thats what I have been doing. And praying quite a bit. ~P~

[Southerngl]

<<>> I am so sorry about your son. God be with you.

[Southerngl]

That’s why the parents entrust their children to the college administration “in loco parentis”.
How did college students suddenly become children?
**************

I AGREE!! Yes, they are the sons and daughters of the parents, but are not ‘children’. I have a 24 year old college student stepson and he is in no way a ‘child’. (Although the way he pouts, expects laundry services and free lunch you would think he was! Good boy though)

[Southerngl]

The operator tells him, “all we can say at this point is that you should proceed to your classes cautiously.”

**********************

This is assinine remark, and I don’t know why this operator chose to follow orders rather than tell the callers what was obvious “Get the hell out of there!” BUT, why do we need someone to tell us to leave when police are screaming around, people are in blood soaked shirts and they have to call to get directions on what to do? I’m sorry, but what society do we live in where we can’t make a judgement call on the obvious (at that point)? Which is to LEAVE! If someone is running out of a building in a blood soaked shirt-police screeching up to the building- I am not going to enter that building or any other in the vicinity, cautious or otherwise.

[Southerngl]

Have you seen that cell phone video where you can hear shots being fired inside and all the cops are hiding behind trees outside. I’d fire everyone of them. The guy is in there killing people and the cops with guns to actually do something about it are outside hiding behing behind trees.

**********************

Now on THIS I agree. I don’t want the police to die anymore than anyone else, but if I am paying someone to PROTECT me, I certainly don’t want them to take the attitude (since they have the WEAPON AND I DON’T!!) of , “well, I didn’t want to get hurt”. Well go get a job in the mall then and get out of uniform!!

[The Sons of Liberty]

I see a LOT of people excusing the criticism of the total incompetence displayed during this crisis as "20/20 Hindsight".

The thing that amazed me was the VT Police Chief responding to a double murder - at least 10 minutes AFTER the crime, locking down one dorm, and then ASSuming the situation was under control! Did they ASSume the shooter was just going to hang around or go back to his dorm room?? These guys remind me of the Keystone Cops. Surround the barn after the horse has gotten out!

Then the college president doesn't want to institute a lockdown "because a lot of people were already were driving in". Turning around is not part of the driving test in Virginia??

... and I won't even get started on why the shooter was even allowed into the Country!!!

[Bryan24]

If the police arrive and they believe the killer is still on the premises, you posts officers at all exits and do a room by room search.

If the police believe the killer may be in adjacent buildings, you posts police at the exits and do a methodical, apartment by apartment search.

I’m not saying that the campus police/administration should have locked everyone in their dorm room.

With a killer loose:

- EVERYONE on campus should have been notified as soon as possible.
- Descriptions given, if available.
- Students should have been cautioned about checking cars, strangers in dorms, etc...
- The campus police should have been highly visible everywhere on campus. This is standard police procedure when looking for a subject right after a crime.

I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the massacre. BUt I was a little suprised at how casually they seemingly treated the first murders. A little more response to the first shootings might, MIGHT, have prevented the larger massacre.

[NCLaw441]

You said: Unbelievable.

There are still bodies in the classrooms, and not all the facts are KNOWN yet.

It may well be these parents are right, but it is incredibly disrespectful for them to come out this way. No shame. No class. Disgusting.
***

You are exactly right. Seems we have learned little from cases like the Duke Lacrosse matter. We don’t know what happened, what information was given to students, what could have been done better, etc., but no one seems to be able to wait 24 hours even to get a better idea before arguing that the VT president should be fired. Come on folks, get a freaking grip!!!