33 Dead at Virginia Tech; Harvard Mourns

Harvard students and administrators tried to cope yesterday as they heard of the shooting deaths of 33 people, including many students, at Virginia Tech.

Harvard issued no official statement about the attack, the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. But the mood was somber in Cambridge as the horrific facts trickled in piece by piece.

“This is devastating,” Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 said in an e-mailed statement. “We will all need to pull together as a community in the days ahead, to reaffirm the value of human life, and the ideal of a free University.”

Students with friends at Virginia Tech sought to reach them through overloaded phone lines, instant messaging, and Facebook.

Emily M. Parrott ’09 said her closest friend at Virginia Tech was hospitalized after jumping out of the window of one of the attacked classrooms to escape.

The tragedy reverberated at Harvard—700 miles away from the Blacksburg, Va., campus where the shootings occurred.

“I have been talking to people who aren’t even from Virginia,” Parrott said. “They are in awe...just shocked that this can happen.”

About 20 students gathered last night in the Leverett House Junior Common Room for an emotional prayer meeting organized by the Christian Impact group.

Undergraduate Council President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 sent an e-mail to the student body yesterday evening seeking input on how to support students here and in Virginia who were affected by the tragedy.

Petersen wrote that he had “contacted the Harvard administration and encouraged them to help arrange a memorial service at Memorial Church.”

A Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesman did not return a phone call requesting more information about a possible Harvard-organized service. University President Derek C. Bok and President-elect Drew G. Faust also did not return requests for comment.

In telephone interviews from Virginia Tech, students spoke of shock and disbelief.

Alexander W. Scott, a senior, said he was at the university health center during the second shooting and that the building was locked down for several hours.

“It’s hard to grasp what’s going on,” Scott later said. “I don’t think it will hit a lot of people until later on how serious this is.”

Details about the shootings emerged throughout the day. Two people were shot and killed around 7:15 a.m. in West Ambler Johnston Hall, one of the university’s dormitories. More than two hours later, 31 people were killed at Norris Hall, an academic building. The dead included the gunman, who committed suicide.

While they mourned, some students also expressed concern over a lack of communication from Virginia Tech officials after the first shooting.

“The timing of all this is definitely a major concern to most people,” said Caroline C. Black, a junior, referring to the two-hour gap between the incidents. “How could this have happened? Things were not handled in an immediate way. After one shooting you would think that there would be at least a lock down.”

Black added in an e-mail that she still had faith in Virginia Tech “as a safe institution and community.”

It was unclear whether Harvard would take any measures to boost security here. Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven G. Catalano wrote in an e-mail that it “is the policy of the HUPD not to discuss anything specific in regards to security on our campus.”

Virginia Tech administrators sent several e-mails to Virginia Tech students in the wake of the shootings, but the first arrived at least two hours after the initial attack had occurred. At a news conference yesterday, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger defended his administration’s handling of the incident, saying officials thought the first shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute and mistakenly believed the gunman had fled the area. And, like students here and around the country, he struggled to grasp the gravity of the day’s events.

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

—Brittney L. Moraski and Reed B. Rayman contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.

—Staff writer Claire M. Guehenno can be reached at guehenno@fas.harvard.edu.