Preparing for the convocation this afternoon
The Roanoke Times is blogging about what's happening in the Blacksburg area today, including preparations for this afternoon's convocation in memory of the victims.
Correspondent Ralph Berrier Jr. writes that people are already lining up to get into Cassell Coliseum.
Farther down the street, in downtown Blacksburg, it looks a little like a Virginia Tech Game Day. Plenty of students are crossing streets and walking along sidewalks. Almost every one of them is wearing an orange or maroon shirt or sweatshirt. Near Cassell Coliseum, there are marching band members on the sidewalk and more crowds of orange-and-maroon-clad students.Not unlike Game Day, there's already a tremendously long line at the front doors of the coliseum. But these people waiting along Washington Street and down Spring Street are in line for the 2 p.m. convocation to mourn Monday's mass shooting that killed 33 people, including a shooter identified as 23-year-old [Seung-Hui Cho], a senior majoring in English at Tech.
Someone is holding a sign that reads "Support Steger," a reference to Tech President Charles Steger, who with other officials has drawn criticism for the decision to continue classes after two students were found shot Monday morning. Two hours later, 31 more died by gunfire and 15 were injured, some as they leapt from classroom windows to escape.
Also, the paper has created a guest book for people to leave their thoughts about the shootings and those who died.
12:28 PM ET | 04-17-2007 | permalink
