BLACKSBURG, Va., April 17 (UPI) -- A two-hour gap between the start of the Virginia Tech shootings and the bloody conclusion left many wondering why everyone on campus wasn't notified quicker.
Campus police stood by their decision Monday morning to not lock down the entire campus after being called to investigate a dormitory shooting. They said they thought the gunman had fled and so limited their security efforts to the immediate vicinity. But the shooter headed across campus and burst into a classroom building where he killed 32 people and wounded 15. He then took his own life, police said.
"I don't know why they let people stay in classrooms," Sean Glennon, a junior from Centreville, Va., who quarterbacks the Hokie football team, told The Washington Post. "A lot of people are angry that campus wasn't evacuated a little earlier."
Campus officials said they decided not to cancel classes after the first shooting appeared to be domestic in nature and the assailant had left.
"We were acting on the best information we had at the time," said Wendell Flinchum, the campus police chief.
University President Charles Steger said it appeared safer to have the students in their classrooms rather than walking around the campus.
