‘I've just been amazed how many Oklahomans have called me asking if and my wife and daughter are OK.'
OKLAHOMA TIES
By Susan Simpson
Wilkinson learned of the initial shooting, when one person was reported dead, on CNN. He called his daughter and was relieved to find she was OK.
The sophomore was in a classroom building next to where shots were fired. Julia and her classmates ran across an open field to get to safety, which Jesse Wilkinson thought was a risky maneuver.
"But several students were attacked in classrooms as well,” he said. "The police and authorities were just scrambling to do what they thought best, in a dangerous and unclear situation.”
Wilkinson said he has worried about his daughter's safety but realizes it is impossible to guarantee safety on a public campus.
"You can't put up a fence around the university and screen everybody that comes along,” he said.
Hession said he was off-campus for a meeting Monday morning when the shootings happened. He works across campus from Norris Hall, the engineering science and mechanics building where multiple people were killed.
With more than 30 dead and at least 29 injured, Hession said he was worried.
"It's highly likely I'll know someone,” Hession said. "I'm in engineering, and that is an engineering building.”
"This is pretty weird. The town is mostly Virginia Tech. I don't think it's going to be normal for a long time,” he said.
Ronald Tyler Jr. left Oklahoma less than a year ago to join the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine located on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg.
He was less than a quarter mile from where the first shooting took place Monday morning.
Tyler said friends from Oklahoma have called nonstop as news of the shooting spread
"I've just been amazed how many Oklahomans have called me asking if me and my wife and daughter are OK,” Tyler said.
Tyler said he was worried about his wife, who was in a class in the building next to the dormitory where the first shooting occurred.
Once he got in touch with his wife, his worries moved on to others.
"One of the individuals on my advisory committee is from one of the halls that had the most people killed,” Tyler said.
"You just wonder, ‘Are they OK?' I think everyone is going to know someone or know someone who knows someone. It's a small town.”
Freeman, a 1974 Oklahoma State University graduate, has taught at Virginia Tech since 1980.
He said Blacksburg is a quiet town.
"It's a unique town because it's a small town with a relatively large university,” Freeman said.
"It's surreal. I'm sitting here just sort of incredulous that this has happened here.”
Freeman was on campus Monday morning for a lecture but left before finding out any details about the shooting.
His afternoon lab was canceled.
"It's so shocking it's almost hard to think about anything other than the tragedy at the moment,” Freeman said.
"Obviously, issues of security will be a topic of discussion.”
Details were sketchy most of the day Monday, but Freeman said a gunman would not have trouble moving around campus carrying a book bag, especially if he was college-aged.
"He may or may not be a student. It would be fairly simple to be among the students on campus and not be singled out as anything to be concerned,” Freeman said.
"One of the students was interviewed and said it was something like a college Columbine. All those kinds of issues come to mind.”
Freeman said he isn't sure how the university will finish classes this semester with so many people affected by the tragedy.
"There will be a lot of grieving and a lot of healing that will need to occur, I'm sure, in this town for some time to come,” Freeman said.
Previously, he taught at OSU, which he said is a very similar campus: a land-grant university in a small town, a top engineering college.
Fabrycky said no one would have expected such tragedy.
But still, there will be criticism of the university's response.
"The question will be raised: Why, when the first shooting occurred just after 7 a.m., why was it after 9 a.m. when the campus shut down,” he said.
Several other former OSU professors also work at Virginia Tech, he said, and he believes none were injured.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren said residence halls, which are locked in the evenings, now will be locked 24 hours a day for the rest of the semester "as an extra security precaution in light of these tragic events.”
Residents must use a student ID or room key to get into the residential buildings and hallways.
Boren said emergency phones around the campus link directly to 911 dispatchers. And the university can use mass e-mail to notify students and workers of dangerous situations.
On-campus counselors and campus police can report persons that might be a danger to themselves or others. Campus police and Norman police also train together to respond to emergency situations.
"It is impossible to understand and explain why something like this happens,” she said. "We will continue to evaluate our policies and procedures to make sure our campus is as safe as possible.”
OSU dormitories are locked at night, but not during the day.
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