Virginia Tech Chapter Shaken, Safe After Deadly Shootings

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Fraters across the country and world are mourning the senseless shootings that occurred Monday on the campus of Virginia Tech. The deadliest shooting massacre in modern American history savaged the VT campus as South Korean student Cho Seung-hui killed 32 people, wounded dozens more and then killed himself.

The devastating events stunned the sprawling campus in southwest Virginia, shocked the country and the TKE Nation.

The shooter started at a coed dormitory, opening fire around 7:15 a.m. and killing a man and woman in a room there. Two and a half hours later, he appeared in a classroom building across campus, where he apparently had chained the front doors shut, then went from room to room killing 30 more people, then himself, police said.

Tech students were badly shaken, including those of the Xi-Omega Chapter. Prytanis Bryce Simmons wrote a letter in response to the horrific ordeal to all fraters.

According to a volunteer and the chapter leaders, all fraters have been accounted for and are safe. There were, however, several friends of the fraters who were both injured and killed.

Best known for its engineering school and its football program, Virginia Tech has about 26,000 full-time students on a 2,600-acre campus in the Blue Ridge Mountains about 160 miles west of Richmond, Va.

The school is ranked 34th among national public universities by U.S. News & World Report. Its engineering school is ranked 17th, and its civil engineering program 11th. Men make up 59 percent of undergraduates.

The Offices of the Grand Chapter extend our heartfelt condolences and thoughts as the men of Xi-Omega, Virginia Tech campus and countless others mourn those lost in the tragedy.

To send your thoughts to the fraters of Xi-Omega, please click here.

If you would like to see your chapter news here, contact Communications Coordinator Tom McAninch.