Breaking: VTech evacuated, police “swarm” with guns drawn (PM UPDATE: NBC RECEIVED “MATERIALS” FROM SHOOTER)

MSNBC has that on their front page, but there’s no link to the story yet. What the hell is going on??

Update I: Neither MSNBC nor Fox has that breaking news update at the top of their page anymore, so perhaps it was a false alarm?

Update II: Here’s the scoop – it was a false alarm:

Virginia Tech students still on edge after the deadliest shooting in U.S. history got another scare Wednesday morning as police in SWAT gear with weapons drawn swarmed Burruss Hall, which houses the president’s office.

The threat of suspicious activity turned out to be unfounded, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said, and the building was reopened. But students were rattled.

“They were just screaming, ‘Get off the sidewalks,”‘ said Terryn Wingler-Petty, a junior from Wisconsin. “They seemed very confused about what was going on. They were just trying to get people organized.”

One officer was seen escorting a crying young woman out, telling her, “It’s OK. It’s OK.”

Related:

—- Glenn Reynolds writes in today’s NY Daily News: People don’t stop killers. People with guns do

—- Aussie PM and strong Bush ally John Howard took a swipe at “US gun culture” yesterday in response to questions about the VTech massacre. I’m a bit surprised at that. Couldn’t you have waited a few days, Mr. PM?

—- Wizbang has a complete list of the victims.

Update III: MSNBC is reporting that Cho had been accused back in 2005 of stalking two women, and had been sent to a medical facility, but no charges were filed.

Update IV: One of the biggest complaints about the way VTech security handled the shootings is what some people are calling the two hour delay between the first murders in the dorm, and the ones that happened over two hours later. The NYT reports on a possible explanation: the police were persuing the guy they thought may have shot and killed the first two – and it wasn’t Cho:

And new information emerged that may help explain a fateful two-hour delay by university officials in warning the campus of a gunman at large. According to search warrants and statements from the police, campus investigators had been busy pursuing what appears to have been a fruitless lead in the first of two shooting episodes Monday.

After two people, Emily Jane Hilscher, a freshman, and Ryan Clark, the resident adviser whose room was nearby in the dormitory, were shot dead, the campus police began searching for Karl D. Thornhill, who was described in Internet memorials as Ms. Hilscher’s boyfriend.

According to a search warrant filed by the police, Ms. Hilscher’s roommate had told the police that Mr. Thornhill, a student at nearby Radford University, had guns at his town house. The roommate told the police that she had recently been at a shooting range with Mr. Thornhill, the affidavit said, leading the police to believe he may have been the gunman.

But as they were questioning Mr. Thornhill, reports of widespread shooting at Norris Hall came in, making it clear that they had not contained the threat on campus. Mr. Thornhill was not arrested, although he continues to be an important witness in the case, the police said.

At the time of the dormitory shootings, Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, said, “There was certainly no evidence or no reason to think that there was anyone else at that particular point in time.”

Here are two videos that were posted at LiveLeak of the tragedy at VTech. One was filmed by a student through the peephole of a classroom with his cell phone as police were going down the hall. The other is of a student in the hospital describing the absolute horror he witnessed.

Update V: Did one professor’s webcam save lives? Read this interesting story about Assistant Professor Dennis Hong and what he did once he heard shots being fired in Norris Hall.

PM Update 2:36: CBS News is reporting the following at the top of their page (no direct link yet):

CBS News has learned the search of the Virginia Tech gunman’s apartment produced eight pages of notes which law enforcement sources characterize as a suicide note. Details soon.

PM Update 2: Here’s CBS’ story on the suicide note:

(CBS/AP) The search of the Virginia Tech gunman’s dorm room and backpack produced eight pages of notes which law enforcement sources characterize as a “suicide note,” reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. They say the writings “appear to be a manifesto.”

Cho Seung-Hui’s notes are “a rambling diatribe against people of privilege,” says one law enforcement official. As the official put it, “He (Cho) just seemed to hate everybody.” The notes, he continued, “are page after page of single-spaced rantings.”

This contradicts Tuesday’s statement by the Virginia State Police that no suicide note was found.

The notes are hard to read and follow, say officials. “Every other word is ‘f—‘,” one official said. Cho raises no race issues, but focuses mostly on class and privilege, railing against “rich people who have Mercedes, gold, and trust funds.”

The notes end with the phrase, “We’ll soon be together.” Police sources don’t know who the “we” is referring to or if it’s a specific reference.

Sources would not say if Cho’s notes contained any names. Previously, it had been reported that Cho mentioned one or two woman students in his notes.

Very vague. Hopefully they’ll release more info about the suicide note in the days to come.

PM Update 3: A “massacre” or “tragedy”? CBS has decided to drop the term “massacre” from its reporting on the VTech … massacre. Here’s why:

Today, CBS News made the decision to stop referring to the Virginia Tech shootings as a “massacre.” Instead, the outlet will use the word “tragedy.”

The change in terminology shifts focus from the horror of the shootings to the sadness they have caused. “Massacre” is a dramatic word that evokes slaughter; “tragedy” is more passive, less tied to an individual act. It is, according to dictionary.com’s interpretation of the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, “a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; calamity; disaster.” A massacre, by contrast, is defined as “the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder.”

Ummm … right. Because we shouldn’t be focusing on the individual who committed the massacre.

PM Update 4: Just got this in my email news alert: MSNBC is reporting that NBC rec’d “materials” from Cho between the first and second shootings – no direct link just yet.

PM Update 5: Here’s the link and story:

Cho Seung-Hui sent NBC News a long and rambling communication and video about his grievances, the network said Wednesday.Network officials turned the material over to the FBI and said they would not immediately disclose its contents pending the agency’s review.

The communication is the last known red flag raised by Cho, 23, a senior English major at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who killed 32 people in two separate attacks Monday before taking his own life.

Stay tuned …

PM Update 6: More on this developing story via CBS (again, no direct link just yet but got this in email):

Police say Virginia Tech shooting Cho-Shun-We is believed to have sent a manifesto, multiple photos and video to NBC News which were apparently mailed after his first shootings but before his second shootings, two hours later.

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A new post has been started here on the VTech massacre.