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oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ bill: our break, news on the campus of virginia tech, blacksburg, virginia, screen right, dittrich hall. and that is where about an hour ago, three juveniles reported to police theyaw a 6-foot white man with light-colore hair, carrying a gun, they report to police. and, then there is and all-points bulletin sent out to all the students on the campus, siren sounds, alert system was alerted, and you have e-mail messages and text messages, going out. and at the moment the gunman has not been found, if it was a gunman in the first place and
past 20 minutes and we are watching the news reports out of blacksburg and, unfortunately, virginia tech, knows the drill all too well, april 16, 2007. a span of two hours, 32 were killed and 45 were wounded, before the gunman committed suicide in blacksburg, virginia. alisyn: what the campus is putting out on the web site, right now, on your screen and it is ominous, person with gun, reported near dittrich, obviously a building, stay inside, secure doors, emergency personnel responding, call 911 for help. that is very chilling right now, of course, hard not to remember what happened there, the scene of the biggest massacre, school massacre in american history. bill: from what i am reading, dittrich is the dining hall and i'm not sure where that is situated on campus, as we use the map with the assistance of the google map we'll try and figure out where on campus the dining hall is located.
out 9:37 a.m. that is about half an hour after the kids say they spotted the guy, person weather a gun reported near dittrich, stay inside, secure doors, emergency personnel responding, call 911 for help. bill: the story developing, 40, 45 minutes old and often stories change and change quickly and this, we are learning from a virginia tech school, dittrich hall is where the virginia tech corps cadets train, like a rotc program and whether that has anything to do with this or not is not known, but that is dittrich hall. looks to be a two-storey building on the campus of virginia tech and many students not on campus but there are activities, getting ready for the football season, coming up this fall and, we know it is significant and summer classes are in session, for at least another week. alisyn: and apparently, a camp is also held on university
spotted with this gun, outside the dining hall and people on campus were asked to stay inside and secure your doors and police now are going through the area near dittrich hall to figure out what is up. 9:59, 12 minutes later, one of our affiliates, wflf in blacksburg confirmed, the alarm system had been activated. and joe matthews, former supervisor, homicide division in miami, florida, good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: frankly, we do not know what is happening on the campus as we get the news here we'll try and reach out to people who may be eye witnesses and also, could be working with the campus police. but, it is true virginia tech set the stage for the alert systems now widespread across universities in america. how does that system work when a threat like that happens.
after the massacre in april of 2007. for campuses and schools across the country, and how they could get ready and prepare, the early alert system to allow as many staff and students as possible, about a threat on campus. and, that model has been taken and used, in countless universities and schools across america today. alisyn: sending out everything to a blackberry, a cell phone, and as quickly as possible and, again, they are just being as direct and using an economy of words, here, person with gun reported near dittrich, as bill said, the dining hall, stay inside and secure doors and emergency personnel responding, call 911 for help and we haven't heard from the police yet about how they are responding or how widespread it is. bill: here's the timeline, it is now, 10:18, east coast time in blacksburg. at 9:47, virginia tech alert went out claiming a person was
they say that he was walking fast in the direction of the volleyball courts and wearing a blue and white striped shirt, stripes were vertical, gray shorts, brown sandals, and he was 6', light brown hair, outside of the new residence hall-east and apparently campus security were alarmed enough by what they heard that they sent out this alert throughout the campus, it says, person with gun reported in dittrich, obviously a building, stay inside. and secure doors, emergency personnel responding, call 911. of course, this is what campus seurity trained for, apparently, after the horrible massacre, virginia tech suffered in april of 2007. >> i find it interesting with such a detailed description, if they gave the description together, or if they were separated and each gave the exact description i would be concerned about that, because,
shirt, stripes vertical and gray shorts and brown sandals, no facial hair or glasses. those three individuals, the three juveniles attending the camp got a good look at the white male, 6', light brown hair, spotted near new residence call, and we talked about dittrich hall earlier and, new residence hall is like a dorm that could be nearby. alisyn: and, of course, just to remind everybody of what unfolded april 16, 2007, that is when a student there basically unloaded his gun, and ended up killing 32, i believe, 30 people, 32 or... bill: 33, total. alisyn: that is right, 33 people were killed, 30 more were injured, that day. and that was just a bloody, horrible massacre, a honorable moment in the history of the country, so any time anything happens at virginia tech you have to wonder if there is a