VAIL, Colo.-
Josh Ball of Vail, a freshman at Virginia Tech, said he lives on the same dormitory floor and had a class in the same building Monday where a gunman killed 32 people.
“I still can’t even wrap my mind around what happened yet—to know I was in both places,” he told the Vail Daily in Tuesday’s editions.
Ball said he was waking up in West Ambler Johnston dormitory just about the time that two people were killed there, but he didn’t hear gunshots.
Later, as he was leaving for class, he saw one of the victims being taken away, although Ball said he did not yet realize what had happened.
Ball left Norris Hall after his first class of the day about 15 minutes before the gunman killed 30 other people and took his own life there, he said.
At his next class, in a nearby building, Ball saw police cars driving by. Another student learned of the shootings from an e-mail and told others in the class. Ball then called his parents in Vail to tell them he was all right.
His father, Chris Ball said he is grateful his son avoided the shootings.
“He was all around it and just missed having any contact with this guy by the grace of God,” Chris Ball said.
“(Josh Ball) said, ‘You don’t realize how close I was to this,'” the elder Ball said.
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LONGMONT, Colo. (AP)—Virginia Tech student Andrew Dyche of Erie was in his off-campus house when a gunman killed 32 people on campus, but he felt the impact as friends and families jammed phone lines, frantically tracking each other down.
“Everyone was getting in touch with their loved ones, but the lines have been blocked and a lot of people are freaking out,” Dyche told the Longmont Daily Times-Call in Tuesday’s editions.
He said he believes none of his friends were seriously hurt.
Dyche, a 2003 graduate of Erie High School, is a senior accounting major and plans to graduate this spring.
“I’m wondering about the rest of the semester. It’s not like we can pick up where we started again,” he said.
“I’m wondering what the fallout is going to be. This is beyond historic proportions.”
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP)—Colorado State University students and alumni scrawled messages of hope Tuesday and collected donations to send to their counterparts at Virginia Tech.
“God Bless,” one person wrote.
Both CSU and the University of Colorado in Boulder planned vigils Wednesday in memory of those who were killed at Virginia Tech. CU planned a candlelight vigil at 6 p.m., and CSU planned a gathering at noon in Fort Collins.
At CSU, the Student Alumni Connection student group was preparing to send finals week care packages to Blacksburg, Va.
At least 13 CSU alumni work on the faculty or staff at Virginia Tech, and alumni planned to send them a message of support Wednesday, CSU officials said.
