by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor 
  For some Buchanan County parents, the news of the Monday shooting at Virginia Tech which killed 33 and injured 25 others, hit hard as they learned what was happening and scrambled for telephones to locate their own children who are students at the state university in Blacksburg.
  When they were able to reach them -- or their children called them on their own to reassure them -- they breathed a sigh of relief. The Mountaineer had received no indication at press time Tuesday that any of the deceased or wounded were local students; however a complete listing of the dead and the wounded had not yet been released.
  Monday's shooting was said to be the worst campus shooting in the history of the United States.
  At the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, students there organized a candlelight vigil of their own Tuesday night to remember the dead and wounded at Virginia Tech. Having been the victim of a campus shooting five years ago when a disgruntled student shot to death the dean, a law professor and a law student and wounded three others, the ASL community knew first hand the impact of the tragedy the Tech community was attempting to come to grips with.
  The gunman in the Tech shootings was identified Tuesday morning as 23-year-old VT Senior English Major Cho Seung-Hui, of Centreville. He died after turning the gun he allegedly used in the campus slayings on himself.
  Virginia Tech President Charles Steger issued a brief statement.
  "Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," Steger said. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."
  The shootings took place on opposite sides of the campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-ed dormitory that houses 895 people. About two hours later, as police were still investigating the dorm shooting, they received word of gunfire in a classroom building at Norris Hall, an engineering building, about a half-mile away, authorities said.
  All entrances to the campus were closed following the shootings and classes were canceled through Tuesday.
  The university also set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children and made counselors available. An assembly was held Tuesday and among the attendees were U.S. President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.
  "This is a day of mourning for the Virginia Tech community and it is a day of sadness for our entire nation," Bush said. "In this time of anguish, I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you and asking God to provide comfort for all who have been affected."
  He concluded his remarks by reminding those in attendance, "people who have never met you are praying for you. They're praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There's a power in these prayers, a real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God."
  Monday night, some of the Buchanan County parents and their sons and daughters attending the university recounted the day's events.
  Melinda Vandyke was at work at Cumberland Mountain Community Services Monday when her supervisor came to her and told her she had just seen the news of the shootings pop up on the internet.
  Vandyke, whose son, Alex, is a sophomore engineering major at the school, immediately grabbed the phone to call her son.

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