Virginia Tech Forced To Test Crisis

Virginia Tech Forced To Test Crisis
In the severe mins following a lethal firing at Virginia Tech Thursday, university authorities were forced to test crisis procedures put in place following the 2007 university quinton jackson that led to 33 large.

Officials used Tweets to send a university lockdown recognize to scholars seven mins after the 12:30 p.m. firing of a Virginia Tech law enforcement, who was creating a routine visitors quit in a university vehicle lot. School authorities said the gunman, who contacted the specialist on base as he was generating the visitors quit, left on base.

Soon after the firing, a second person whom law enforcement are if is the gunman was found dead of a gunshot ended in another university vehicle lot with the system regional. The man is not yet recognized.

While university authorities put the lockdown Friday evening, showing scholars they could application their regular activities, Friday’s final tests were past due until further recognize.

In the April 2007 massacre, Virginia Tech officials were criticized and fined for waiting two hours after the first bullets were fired before issuing a campus alert. The gunman, Seung-hui Cho, fired more than 100 bullets at his victims before taking his own life. The attack is considered one of the deadliest shootings in US history.

The response Thursday was much swifter as school officials sent e-mail, text, and Twitter alerts about every 30 minutes.

“We deployed them all and we deployed them immediately to get the word out,” Mark Owczarski, a school spokesman, told the Associated Press.

Using Twitter, the school first reported: “Gun shots reported- Coliseum Parking lot. Stay Inside. Secure doors. Emergency personnel responding. Call 911 for help.”

A second tweet followed: “Suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack. On foot towards McComas. Call 911.”

The shooting took place the same day the university was appealing a $55,000 fine imposed by the US Department of Education for violating the rules of an emergency notification policy in the 2007 shooting. In the school’s challenge of the fine, it says not enough information was known in the early stages of the attack, especially the news that there were deaths.

Over the past five years, Virginia Tech enhanced its emergency response procedures by incorporating social media, mobile phone, and website alerts.

The system was tested in August when a report of a gunman on campus caused the university to lock down the campus for five hours. No gunman was ever found.