Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Hostage Situation at CWRU

I am not sure how many people know this, but I am a student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. For those of you that were worried about me (although I am pretty sure I talked to everyone on IRC today - thanks to Anna and Annie telling me that people were talking about it), i just wanted to let everyone know that I am ok and didn't even go to campus today. I am a bit shook up, though. Even though my department and office are on the exact opposite side of the campus, I know a lot of people that were potentially involved.

Today at approximately 4pm, the Peter B. Lewis Building (the business school) was invaded by a gunman. So far, they have confirmed that one person has died. The gun man is still in the building, but hopefully everything will be resolved soon. Local News - ABC Channel 5

Please pray for the hostages that are still inside the building! I still haven't heard from some of my friends.

- Alicia

just checked for an update... after 7 hours, they finally got him. he's in custody now, and no one else was killed or injured (there had been one death and two injuries when alica posted, and that's where the count still remains).

i'm glad you're okay alicia, though i can definitely understand being shaken. here's hoping for the recovery of the two who were injured. it says they're in "stable condition," so hopefully they're not too badly injured.

Paul

Oh wow. I just heard about that this evening. I'm so glad you're okay! I'll say a prayer before I hit the sack. Take care.

Alicia, I saw this on CNN and felt sorry in an abstract kind of way about what had happened. And then I came online and read this thread and felt terrible. Knowing someone who this affects personally has made a difference.

I hope that the person killed was not someone you knew well, but even if it wasn't, I also know that this death will affect you anyway. Keep strong and take care.

Irene

Alicia,

I know the situation is under control (by reading the previous posts), but I hope you and everyone else somehow involved in this huge mess will be OK.

It's not just because the gunman is in custody that everything will go back to normal: the memory will always be there. I somehow hope that this memory will be tucked away very, very deeply, and that it never resurfaces.

Be well, everyone from CWRU!

malu

Thank you to everyone that talked to me on AIM, emailed me, responded here, and talked to me on IRC - everyone was so supportive to my mindless scared rambling. I was having a really hard time dealing with this yesterday - and it is still really hard to believe. I am just having trouble believing that something so horrible happened so close to home. Thankfully, the situation was resolved with minimal casualties - one death and 2 injuries - but that death and those injuries still shock me to the core.

The situation hit especially close to home for me for several reaons. First, because it was my school - and we had gone almost 3 years without something tragic happening (my sophomore year, a student jumped through a 9th floor window and I saw the ambulance pull away, the blood on the ground, and the body-shaped hole in the window ) and I'd never seen anything so tragic happen on a campus that is usually rather peaceful. I've spent the last 6 years of my life there - one in high school, 4 as an undergraduate, and 1 as a graduate student - and it sort of hits at my heart that something so horrible could happen in a place that I had always thought of as "safe."

Plus, I knew a lot of people that were potentially inside that building. My chapter advisor for my sorority is a professor whose office is in that building. My friends mom works there. Plus, a lot of my friends are business students, so there was a chance that they had been in there, too. Luckily, all of my friends either weren't there or got out safely.

Also, one of my best friends lives in an apartment building that is almost right across the street from the building that was affected. Until I talked to him on AIM and realized that he was okay, I was really worried about him, too. He actually was evacuated from his apartment for a while - and it was scary knowing that he might have been in the range of gunfire.

Also, I was on my way to Case to finish up final grades for the class that I TA with my professor when I heard it on the news. I was really scared that he and I would have to be there as the hostage situation was going on - even though the BME building is on the other side of campus. But in order for me to get to the other side of campus, I would have had to drive past the roped off area (since I would be comming from the West Side of Cleveland). Thankfully, we didn't meet because he called me and we resolved the grading situation over the phone and came up with our final grades quite quickly. But it was still quite nervewracking.

Also, even though I am not a business student, the Biomedical Engineering department used to share a building with the economics department until the business school moved into the PBL building and the rest of the business school was housed in the two adjoining buildings - so if this would have happened just a few months ago, the biomedical engineering department would have also been effected. Plus, I know a lot of the Accounting students and professors because the lab that I worked in was on the same floor as all of the accounting offices.

It turned out that the gun man was a Case Alumni who had recently lost a lawsuit with the university with someone in the business school. CNN Story I guess he was extremely disgruntled and he decided that shooting people would be the best way to deal with his disappointment . One MBA student died - I did not know him, but it was still absolutely horrifying. 2 people were injured - and I think one of them is 7mo pregnant and went into early labor - I really hope she is okay - at the last newsbroadcast I heard, both of the injured were stable.

This is still really hard for me to deal with and I am having a hard time getting my nerve back up to go back to school. Thankfully, I have until Monday to try to regroup my emotions.

- Alicia

{{{{{{Alicia}}}}}}

Thanks for the update, hon - I've been seeing a little of the coverage on the internet news sites, but some of the others are right: knowing that a friend of yours is affected by the story, hits home a little harder than usual. If you want to talk, I'm not always on the right computer, but when I am, my AIM is MelShpFoLC, and Yahoo Messenger is MelismaMcGregor - just page me okay?

{{{{{{Alicia}}}}}}

Melisma (under her Rock, knowing that lots of hugs can help, too )

Alicia, I'm very relieved to see that the situation is resolved, but very sad at the deaths and injuries and horrified that anyone thinks that taking a gun and shooting and terrorising people is an acceptable way to deal with a grievance.

As we said on IRC the other night, we were all hugely relieved to know that you're okay, and we all feel for you in your shock and sadness. Come and find us again any time you need to talk; you know where we are.

Wendy

*hugs* I'm glad you're okay.

Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw a picture of the shooter on the news today and I realized that I know him. When they first revealed his name and age, it sounded sort of familiar, but I did not make the connection until I saw the picture. I just got off the phone with my best friend and now the two of us are compltely freaked out - even more so than before.

My friends and I always used to make fun of him as the "scary old Indian guy that eats at Fribley (the dining hall), spends all day at smith lab (the computer lab), and always looks at us funny." We were absolutely terrified of him and always tried to avoid him at all costs. We just thought he was sort of weird - not that he would go on a shooting rampage! If I was freaked out before now I am absolutely terrified! Here is one of the articles that was in the Plain Dealer today. Scary Old Guy

- Alicia

Alicia, I am so sorry to hear about this new development.

I'm sure that counsellors will be brought in to help students deal with the trauma. It might not be a bad idea to find out what they have to say.

Thinking about you,
Irene

Oh, no, Alicia! That's awful! {{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}

More hugs for you and your friends, Alicia...
{{{{Alicia}}}}}

{{{{{Alicia's Friends}}}}}

Must be a real shocker to realize you know that person, but I also think if it was me, and it was someone I had had that attitude toward, (as you described, and the way the article described) I'd be having all sorts of mixed feelings about now. Please do talk to all of us, and to anybody the school makes available to you - you know we, at least, care!


Melisma