One student fought back
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/vtech.closecall/
Zach Petkewicz, two other students used a table to barricade classroom door
As shooter tried to force open door, students lunged at it, forcing it shut again
Shooter then fired into the door twice, but students had moved against the wall
BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- Monday's toll inside Virginia Tech's Norris Hall might have included 11 more students had it not been for a long, rectangular table and a quick-thinking senior who used it to deflect the rampage of his fellow classmate.
Zach Petkewicz said he didn't recognize the sounds that pierced the door and cinder-block walls of his classroom as gunshots until he heard a scream from the hallway of the engineering building.
"The girls in my class peeked out in the hall and saw a gunner come out of a classroom with his gun pointed down," Petkewicz told CNN.
"They immediately slammed the door shut, told us, everybody kind of went into a frenzy, a panic. I hid behind the podium and then just kind of looked up at the door. Like, there's nothing stopping this guy from just coming in. And so I said, 'We need to barricade this door.' "
Petkewicz described his state of mind unabashedly: "I was completely scared out of my mind originally, just went into a cowering position, and then just realized you have got to do something." (Watch Petkewicz describe how he kept his wits about him)
Petkewicz and two other students shoved a table against the door and held it there as gunshots continued to ring out from the hallway outside the classroom.
"He came to our door, tried the handle and couldn't get in because we were pushing up against it -- and tried to force his way in and got the door to open up about 6 inches -- and then we just lunged at it and closed it back up and that's when he backed up and shot twice into the middle of the door, thinking we were up against it trying to get him out."
But Petkewicz said that instead he and the other students had placed themselves in front of the cinder-block walls, where they listened to what was going on out of sight a few inches away.
"I just heard his clip drop to the ground, and he reloaded and I thought he was coming back for a second round to try to get his way in there. He didn't say a word, and he just turned and kept firing down the hall and didn't try to get back in."
As the drama was unfolding, Petkewicz said, other classmates were on their cell phones with 911 operators, who told them police were on their way.
Soon, "I could hear police shouting all around the building. They were there really fast, it was just a matter of getting up and getting to us and getting this guy out of the picture."
The shooter -- identified as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English major and South Korean native from Centreville, Virginia -- used one of his two guns to take care of that himself, police said.
Asked what he would say to those who call him a hero, Petkewicz looked away, began blinking rapidly, shrugged his shoulders, shook his head back and forth, removed his right hand from the pocket of his blue jeans and used it to stroke his forehead, then said in a voice choked with emotion, "I'm just glad I could be here."
Norris Hall is shut for the remainder of the semester.
Zach Petkewicz, two other students used a table to barricade classroom door
As shooter tried to force open door, students lunged at it, forcing it shut again
Shooter then fired into the door twice, but students had moved against the wall
BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- Monday's toll inside Virginia Tech's Norris Hall might have included 11 more students had it not been for a long, rectangular table and a quick-thinking senior who used it to deflect the rampage of his fellow classmate.
Zach Petkewicz said he didn't recognize the sounds that pierced the door and cinder-block walls of his classroom as gunshots until he heard a scream from the hallway of the engineering building.
"The girls in my class peeked out in the hall and saw a gunner come out of a classroom with his gun pointed down," Petkewicz told CNN.
"They immediately slammed the door shut, told us, everybody kind of went into a frenzy, a panic. I hid behind the podium and then just kind of looked up at the door. Like, there's nothing stopping this guy from just coming in. And so I said, 'We need to barricade this door.' "
Petkewicz described his state of mind unabashedly: "I was completely scared out of my mind originally, just went into a cowering position, and then just realized you have got to do something." (Watch Petkewicz describe how he kept his wits about him)
Petkewicz and two other students shoved a table against the door and held it there as gunshots continued to ring out from the hallway outside the classroom.
"He came to our door, tried the handle and couldn't get in because we were pushing up against it -- and tried to force his way in and got the door to open up about 6 inches -- and then we just lunged at it and closed it back up and that's when he backed up and shot twice into the middle of the door, thinking we were up against it trying to get him out."
But Petkewicz said that instead he and the other students had placed themselves in front of the cinder-block walls, where they listened to what was going on out of sight a few inches away.
"I just heard his clip drop to the ground, and he reloaded and I thought he was coming back for a second round to try to get his way in there. He didn't say a word, and he just turned and kept firing down the hall and didn't try to get back in."
As the drama was unfolding, Petkewicz said, other classmates were on their cell phones with 911 operators, who told them police were on their way.
Soon, "I could hear police shouting all around the building. They were there really fast, it was just a matter of getting up and getting to us and getting this guy out of the picture."
The shooter -- identified as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English major and South Korean native from Centreville, Virginia -- used one of his two guns to take care of that himself, police said.
Asked what he would say to those who call him a hero, Petkewicz looked away, began blinking rapidly, shrugged his shoulders, shook his head back and forth, removed his right hand from the pocket of his blue jeans and used it to stroke his forehead, then said in a voice choked with emotion, "I'm just glad I could be here."
Norris Hall is shut for the remainder of the semester.
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Smart thinking to use along table and stand behind the wall. 0 -
Glad to hear this.[8D] 0 -
Barricading themselves in a room isn't exactly fighting back. 0 -
uhm yeah, how exactly is it "fighting" back? it's more like "I was completely scared out of my mind originally, just went into a cowering position, and then just realized you have got to do something." but on a scale of a classroom. 0 -
It would appear people are alive today because of his actions.Perhaps you nay saying key board Rambo's could share some of your life saving experiences. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by catpealer111
Barricading themselves in a room isn't exactly fighting back.
He took action and kept the threat out, as opposed to sitting in fear waiting for his turn to die.
He deserves accolades. How many in that room would be dead, if not for one person stepping up ralling support of others, and taking action?
Don0 -
quote:Originally posted by sothere
It would appear people are alive today because of his actions.Perhaps you nay saying key board Rambo's could share some of your life saving experiences.
Agreed.
Nobody had a gun except Cho, because everyone else was too busy following the law, unfortunately.
Which leads to this question: If someone brought a gun to campus that day and took out Cho, would they be prosecuted or expelled?0 -
why would i? it is none of anyone's business, it is now?
all was said that it's in no way "fighting", are you going to argue that?0 -
Unlike all the other folks that got shot; this guy used whatever was available to stay alive.
Bonus: Many others survived as well.
In a "gun-free" school zone, the only thing available for use as a defensive tool was a table, and I think he did the right thing in jamming the door with it.0 -
quote:Which leads to this question: If someone brought a gun to campus that day and took out Cho, would they be prosecuted or expelled?
i have been thinking the same thing, and the sad part is i do not believe the good deed would not have went unpunished
if another student would have taken out cho when he had only shot 10 people we would have never known how many lives would have actually been saved0
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