An exercise in mental and emotional manipulation:
"Report of gunman locks down Va. Tech; No one found in longest search since ’07 rampage" August 05, 2011|By Zinie Chen Sampson, Associated Press
BLACKSBURG, Va. - A report of a possible gunman at Virginia Tech yesterday set off the longest, most extensive lockdown and search on campus since the rampage four years ago that led the university to overhaul its emergency procedures.
No gunman was found, and the school gave the all-clear just before 3 p.m., about five hours after sirens began wailing and students and staff members started receiving warnings by phone, e-mail, and text message to lock themselves indoors. Alerts were also posted on the university’s website and Twitter accounts.
Maddie Potter, 19, of Virginia Beach, holed up inside a campus wood shop, where she had been working on a class project. Staff members locked the doors and turned off the lights.
“I was pretty anxious. We had family friends who were up here when the shooting took place in 2007, so it was kind of surreal,’’ she said. “I had my phone with me, and I called both my parents.’’
The emergency alert was triggered by three teens who were attending a summer program on campus and told police they saw a man walking quickly across the grounds with what might have been a handgun covered by a cloth, authorities said.
Police searched some 150 buildings on the square-mile campus and issued a composite sketch of a baby-faced man who was said to be wearing shorts and sandals, but they found no sign of him. They continued to patrol the grounds as a precaution even after the lockdown was lifted.
“We’re in a new era,’’ said Larry Hincker, a Virginia Tech spokesman....
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Anybody see a bluebird?
