留美博士程海燕死里逃生的自述(英文)(1)
留美博士程海燕死里逃生的自述(英文)http://edu.china.com/zh_cn/elearn/english/news/512/20070424/images/14059311_371013.jpgHaiyan Cheng April 17, 2007 12:12pm
It was April 16 2007，a cold and windy morning for Blacksburg. I have class to teach at 9:05 AM. It is “CS4414-Issues in scientific computing”, a class for senior student in CS and Math students. Whenever my advisor went to conference, I would take over the lecture. I went to my office in Torgerson Hall at 8:50, checked email, left my cell phone charging, (last Friday there was the bomb threat that made us evacuated immediately, that time I remembered to take my cell phone and laptop, but forgot the charger) and left laptop in the office and went to Norris Hall to teach. One of my colleagues asked earlier where is my classroom. I told him Norris 204 or 205 (the first classroom on the left hand side at the second floor), I’m not sure. So the first thing I went to the second floor, Norris hall, is to check my room number. It is indeed 205, 204 is across the hall, I took a quick look at the classroom, about 20 students were sitting there, an old professor with white hair was taking his teaching material out of his briefcase.
At 9:00 am, I went into the classroom, everything was as usual, the window opened a little bit, we can feel the breeze. I started the “Numerical solution of ODE” lecture. I covered analytical solution, discussion on existence and uniqueness, there was about 15 minutes left till the end of the lecture, it was about 9:40. Several loud “Band, Bang, Bang”came from outside of the classroom. They were really loud. I was not sure where it came from, but it seemed very close to us. We all thought it was some kind of construction. Then it stopped for 5-10 sec. I was about to start another topic on stability analysis. Then the sound came again. Teresa, the female student sitting close to the door stood up and went to check. I followed her, with the lecture note still in my hand. We were standing at the door, sticking our heads out and checking what happened. The sound came from room 208, the room across the hall, to the left of our classroom. The door is closed. I gazed at that door for 2 seconds. Then the door opened, a guy walked out, I only saw him 1 sec, but the most shocking thing is that he’s holding a black handgun. He wears black, his face is square (roundish). Both I and Teresa came back in immediately, the gun shot right besides our ear. My ear is hurting by the loud sound. The first thing we came back in the classroom is telling everyone down, an Indian student said, let’s block the door with table, so he can’t get in. 4 guys in my class moved the big table next to the podium and blocked the door. (There’s no window and no lock on the door. When there’s lecture going on, usually we left the classroom door wide open.) While we were doing this, the gun shot keeps firing outside of the classroom. I and another girl were behind the podium. The other 2 girls were at the back of the classroom. 4 guys are lying on the ground in front, pushing against the desk legs. After about 1 minute shooting in the hallway, the gunman approaches our classroom. He was trying to open the door, but those students push really hard, then he began to shoot the door. The bullets came through the door, woodchips and metal pieces are everywhere. One bullet even hit the podium. Two of my students at the back underneath the desk were calling 911 with their cell phones, and talking to the police, they told the police there were 11 people in classroom 205, the gunman is still outside shooting. After the gunman tried several times, he gave up and began to shot somewhere else. The gun shot keeps going, “Bang, Bang, Bang”, all I can do is knee down there and pray to God “Please stop him, please stop the gun fire, please…” Then we heard the police car siren from outside. One student asked that if we should jump out of the window. It’s only the second floor. But we all thought that we should stay here, until things are clear outside.
The gun shot sounds further and further. But still not stop. Before we went out to check, we already heard about 20, after we came in, we heard about 30-40, or even more than that. It was terrible. We waited and waited….We heard several unclear shout from outside “show me your hand, show me your hand” etc…but we are not sure if that were police or not. Until finally there was the knock at the door. Those guys made sure they were police, and we opened the door. The police had a gun in his hand, asking us all hands up, and go to the back of the classroom. He asked if anybody got injured. We told him no, then he asked us to sit down, keep calm. Then he was about to leave. One student asked him to close the door, since we thought they might still be searching the gunman. He said we were safe, and called another police officer to come at the door, 1 minute later, the police officer told us to stand in a line and run after him, leave our personal stuff behind. I was standing close to the podium, so I quickly grabbed my key and coat, running with the police. I saw the clip on the floor right outside of our classroom. We try not to step on the blood and run quick. I didn’t even look at the other classroom, but Lisa running right behind me started to cry, I turned around, held her hand, we run together out of the Norris hall and into the Randolph Hall, while still shocking, the first thing I did is borrowed a laptop from another student and sent an email to my husband and our research group, telling them I was safe.
I am so proud of all my students, they did a great job. We did the right things to save our lifes. I am so sorry about those students and professors, I can’t believe 1 hour ago, I saw them all sitting in the classroom.
So far, my cell phone and laptop are still in my office in Torgerson hall, since the building is closed, I’m almost disconnected from the outside world. All I did is using my neighbor’s Internet to reply some messages that concerned about my safety. It was a terrible tragedy for Virginia Tech, for Blacksburg. Please pray for those families that lost of their loved ones. Let’s all cherish every minute of our life.
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