collegiate times, viernes 9 de diciembre 2011

8/3/2019 Collegiate Times, Viernes 9 de Diciembre 2011

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Officer Deriek W. Crouse,39, of Christiansburg, waskilled in yesterday's campusshootings.

During a routine trafficstop near McComas Hall,an unknown gunman unre-lated to the traffic incidentshot him.

He joined the VirginiaTech Police Department in2007 and has been on itsEmergency Response Teamsince February. He recievedan award in 2008 for hisefforts at curbing under-the-influence driving.

A retired member of

the army, Crouse recentlyserved two tours in Iraq.

He just got out, thisis really crazy how it allturned out, said MichaelTaber, a close friend fromthe army and Radford resi-dent.

The Tech communityis showing its support tohis family Crouse issurvived by his wife, fivechildren and stepchildren,as well as his mother andbrother.

"My heart goes out to hisfamily who will surely feelmost keenly, in the days andmonths and years ahead,the profound loss thattoday's events have broughtto pass," said VirginiaTech President Charles

Steger in an email to theuniversity.

COLLEGIATETIMESFriday, December 9, 2011

At a loss

Gunshots rocked Virginia Tech again yes-

terday, as an unknown gunman took

foot on campus, killing a police officer.

As students went about their daily

lives mainly preparing for upcoming exams they

received an alert just after noon, stating that gunshots

were heard near the Cassell Coliseum parking lot.

Was this a false alarm? Just a few months ago, in

August, allegations swirled across the university that a

person was carrying a gun on campus. However, nothing

came of the claims.

Still, almost everyone at this university shudders when

terms such as gunshots, gunman or shootings are uttered

it was only four and a half years ago that the deadli-

est shooting incident in United States history occurred

on Techs campus, as Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 and then

himself on April 16, 2007.

So when cell phones vibrated and email notifications

appeared this afternoon, hearts dropped and for good

reason.As a Tech police officer was carrying out a routine

traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot, near McComas

Hall, he was shot and killed. From then on, police were

sent on a harrowing search for the gunman.

While emergency personnel sprinted throughout

Blacksburg, searching every nook and cranny of campus,

students were being told to do just the opposite to

stay put.

Doors were locked. TV sets were turned on. Twitter

feeds were put into high gear. Tech was officially on lock

down.

Wandering around Squires Student Center, you

wouldnt have seen patrons lined up at Au Bon Pain for

lunch or students hitting the books in common areas.

Rather, men in SWAT suits carrying rifles guarded stair-

wells, while terrified people swarmed the halls, sprinting

toward safety. Gunshots were apparently heard near the

building.

Squires was only one location that was identified as

suspicious Newman Library was evacuated, and

Torgersen Bridge was flooded with students.

For four hours, our community waited in limbo, won-

dering where the gunman was headed next. At about 2

p.m., a second person was found dead in the Cage, the

shooters location still unidentified.

Fast forward to 4:30 p.m. rumors began spreading

that the second person was the shooter, but this has yet

to be confirmed. Officials finally deemed campus safe,

and everyone was told to resume normal activity.

As a warm orange sunset spread over the New River

Valley, the campus was revived. Exhausted and hunger-

ridden students emerged from buildings. Words likemom and dad echoed in their voices as they rushed

to notify them of their safety. And it wasnt long before

students were reminded of their upcoming exams.

Yet again, Tech is shaken. Two lives are lost. And

although life will go on for Tech students all too soon,

it is worth taking a moment to reflect on the heartache

this campus has endured. It is worth taking a moment to

think about how we move forward.

And finally, it is worth taking a moment to appreciate

those who shared the experience of this day and all our

other days as members of the Virginia Tech community

the Hokie Nation.

Police offi cer loses lifein inexplicable shooting

MICHELLE SUTHERLAND

news editor

CROUSE

BY LINDSEY BROOKBANK | managing editor

DANIEL LIN, TREVOR WHITE / SPPS


2/4

page 2 december 9, 2011

For the second time in four years,Virginia Tech has fallen victim to anunspeakable act of violence, as twomen one being Deriek W. Crouse ofthe Virginia Tech Police Department were shot and killed Thursday after-noon.

Today, tragedy again struck VirginiaTech in a wanton act of violence wherea police officer was murdered during aroutine traffic stop, said Virginia TechPresident Charles Steger. Our heartsare broken again for the family of ourpolice officer, and we extend our deep-est sympathy and condolences.

Crouse, 39, had been an officer of theVTPD since 2007 and is survived byhis wife and five children and step-chil-dren, as well as his mother and brother.

The eventsbegan atapproximately12:15 p.m.,when the policeofficer respond-ed to a routinetraffic stopin the CassellColiseum park-ing lot.

During thatstop, a suspect who wasdescribed asbeing a whitemale with graysweat pants, gray hat with neon greenbrim, maroon hoodie and a backpack allegedly shot and killed Crouse,and then fled toward McComasHall.

The shooter is not thought to beinvolved with the traffic violation, andwas instead a third party.

Following the report of gunshots, theVTPD arrived on the scene of thecrime at 12:30 p.m., when it promptlyreached out to local, state and federallaw enforcement to help in the man-hunt.

The request for additional help camewith a campus-wide alert at 12:36 p.m.to all Tech students, notifying themwith what had happened and tellingthem to stay indoors.

About a half hour later, an officer sawa man in the I lot of Duck Pond Drive,commonly referred to as the Cage,acting suspiciously, and upon return,found the man dead from a bulletwound.

The officer did not shoot the sec-ond individual, and it is still unknownwhether the man took his ownlife.

While police are still not willing to

definitively say that the second victimwas the shooter in the initial crime, newevidence has provided a potential link,as video footage from the Crouses in-car camera appears to show the secondvictim at the time and place of the firstshooting.

With that evaluation, we have beenable to determine that the male sub-ject found at the other scene deceased,that he has been captured on that in-car video at the scene with the weap-on we believe was used, said Maj.Rick Jenkins of the Virginia StatePolice.

The evidence is being analyzed, whilepolice are still collecting mounds ofother information from witness state-ments and articles. Police hope to havemore conclusive information by themorning.

Those were the only two incidencesthat are confirmed to have occurred,

even though there were rumors of theshooter being in many places includ-

ing Torgersen Hall, Squires StudentCenter and the Performing ArtsBuilding.

All of these reports were inves-tigated and found to be notcredible.

Much of what exactly happened at thesecond crime scene is still unknown, asthose details will need to be substanti-ated by an investigation that could takeweeks.

I apologize for not being able to fillin some of the blanks, but you realizethis is still in the early stages of theinvestigation, and were trying to pro-vide you with as much information aspossible, said Sgt. Bob Carpentieri ofthe Virginia State Police during a pressconference.

I know its frustrating for you, butwhen other information becomes avail-able regarding the victims, we will passit along.

Those werethe only twoi n c i d e n c e sthat are con-firmed to haveoccurred, eventhough therewere rumorsof the shooterbeing in manyplaces includingTorgersen Hall,Squires StudentCenter and theP e r f o r m i n gArts Building.All of these

reports were investigated and found tobe not credible.

In an incident like this, its not atall unusual when you ask the com-munity to report suspicious behav-iors or any concerns they have, forpolice departments to be inundated,or at least receive numerous calls, said

Gene Deisinger, Techs deputy chief ofpolice.

Since the time of the second inci-dent, there have been no other foundedreports of any threats to the campus.We have responded to and investi-gated numerous calls of suspiciousactivity, community members report-ing persons who matched the descrip-tion that was provided to the com-munity of the reported gunman, andnone of those resulted in crediblefindings.

An additional rumor connected theincidences at Tech to a rest stop on I-81northbound being closed near Radford,but no such link has been found to thispoint.

We had some reports of some sus-picious activity at that location,Carpentieri said. We sent some troop-ers and agents to that location, and

theyre currently processing that scene.I cannot tell you if it is related to thisincident or not.

Several hours later, when all leadsfrom the community were prov-en to be unfounded, Tech releasedits final alert at 4:29 p.m., when itannounced that there was no longeran active threat and to resume normalactivities.

I want to thank our univer-sity community and in particu-lar, our student body for stayingindoors, said Larry Hinker, a univer-sity spokesman. We asked them tostay in doors and stay secure whenwe sent out the VT Alerts throughoutthe day. Thats how its supposed towork.

A candle light vigil for the police offi-cer is going to be held tonight at 6:30 onthe Drillfield, and Cook Counselingsoffice in East Eggleston will be open

today for students who would likecounseling.

12The CageThe Cage(I-Lot)(I-Lot)

Cassell

Cassell

McComas

McCo

mas

HallHall

Cassell

Cassell

Coliseum

Coliseu

m

Washington

Washington

Duckpond

Duckp

ond

WestCampus

W

estCampus

SpringDrive

Sp

ring

Driv

e

The suspect, a white male,was seen running toward

the Cage after the first

shooting.

Shortly after noon, officerDeriek Crouse of VTPD wasshot during a routine trafficstop in the Coliseum lot.

Atabout12:30p

.m.Vir-

giniaT

echwasnotified

ofgunshotsnearthe

CassellC

oliseumlot

.

At about 1:12 p.m., another po-tential victim was reported in theCage. He was later deemed dead,and could be the shooter. Thatrumor has not been confirmed.

Violence strikes Tech again, shocks campus

NICK CAFFERKY

sports special sections editor

Virginia Tech Police officer murdered, one other man dead;campus terrified as search for shooter brings Tech to a halt

TODAY, TRAGEDY AGAIN

STRUCK VIRGINIA TECH IN A

WANTON ACT OF VIOLENCE

WHERE A POLICE OFFICER

WAS MURDERED DURING A

ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP.

Charles StegerVirginia Tech President

TREVOR WHITE / SPPSPolice stop students near Torgersen Hall and search them.

PAUL KURLAK / SPPS

Washington Street between Spring Road and the roundabout was shut down due to the investigation.


3/4

The world was watching VirginiaTech again today and once againit saw a tragedy.

Since Tech student Seung-HuiCho killed 32 and himself in the

April 16, 2007, campus shootings,Tech has been the scene of severalscares, false alarms and similarlytragic if smaller incidents.

Some students expressed frustra-tion to the way national media out-lets handled the story, while otherstudents expressed pleasure withhow the Tech community handledthe situation.

SGA president J Corbin DiMegliosaid he was amazed by how some-thing so tragic was handled sosmoothly.

We became a family, lookingafter each other, DiMeglio said.I was amazed by how difficultof a situation it was but by howsmoothly it went.

Its gonna be asked about, hesaid. But like Nicki Giovanni said,We will prevail. And we did pre-

vail.DiMeglio said he had been declin-

ing to do interviews with nationalmedia outlets, though he said manyhad contacted him for interviews.

Part of Hokies United is thatthe recognized voice is (Larry)Hinckers office, and we dont wantto provide hearsay, DiMeglio said.

Student Chris Luceri said he feltthe incident united all of us.

But, at the end of the day, Iwas just thankful it wasnt anothermass school shooting, Luceri said.Im sorry for the officers familythough.

Luceri said he and his roommatespent the day watching CNN.

It pissed us off initially, he said.We knew if it wasnt Tech, they

wouldnt have sensationalized it asmuch.People on Twitter expressed their

views about national media cover-age of the events at Tech by usingthe hashtag #notagain, referencingthe April 16, 2007, shootings.

#notagain praying tonight forall students, families, and facultylinked to Virginia Tech


4/4

page 4 december 9, 2011

BRAD KLODOWSKI / SPPS

Students lean out of their windows in Lee Hall to try to get a better view of the incidents taking place.

TREVOR WHITE/ SPPS

A van carrying tactical response officers drives down West Campus Drive.

ROY T. HIGASHI/ SPPSA police officer watches near cars parked on Washington Street during the lockdown. DANIEL LIN / SPPSA group of officers congregate around a SWAT van for a briefing near Rector Field House on Spring Road.

ROY T. HIGASHI / SPPS

A police officer searches through cars along Washington Street during the lockdown.

PAUL KURLAK / SPPS

Police held up a white sheet near the crime scene in the Cassell Coliseum parking lot. Officials put up white sheets to cover up the body of Deriek Crouse, the officer who was shot and killed during a traffic stop.

collegiate times, viernes 9 de diciembre 2011

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