“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and the Every Evening.
April 17, 2007, The News Journal
33 dead in Virginia Tech massacre, worst shooting in U.S. history
An outburst of gunfire at a Virginia Tech dormitory followed two hours later by a ruthless rampage in a classroom building killed 32 students, teachers and staff members and wounded at least 15 others Monday in the deadliest shooting attack in the nation’s history.
The shooter, whose name was not released Monday night, carried two 9mm semiautomatic handguns and wore a vest that carried additional ammunition, law enforcement officials and witnesses said.
Witnesses described the shooter as a young man – a silent killer who was calm and showed no expression as he pursued and shot his victims. He killed himself as police closed in.
He had left two dead at the dormitory and 30 more at a science and engineering building, where he executed people who were taking and teaching classes, and even shot a custodian who was helping a victim….
The campus community in southwest Virginia began questioning whether most of the deaths could have been prevented. They wondered why the campus was not shut down after the first shooting, in which two people were killed….
Based on witness interviews, police believed the first shooting was an isolated domestic case and chose not to take any drastic security measures, university officials said…
April 18, 1970, The Morning News
Imperiled Apollo trip ends on target
Days of cold and peril behind, three tired American astronauts splashed down in a happy, on-target landing in the Pacific yesterday, safe at last in the warmth of their home planet.
A doctor who examined the spacemen aboard the aircraft carrier USS Iwo Jima only minutes after their return to Earth reported that Fred W. Haise Jr. was suffering from a mild urinary tract infection and had a low grade fever….
Haise went right to bed after a medical examination and a meal. James A. Lovell Jr. and John L. Swigert Jr. revisited the space craft which had carried them back from a near-tragedy….
They were back from moments of extreme danger, from long hours of discomfort, chilled by cabin temperatures in the 30s, tired by the constant battle to keep their battered ship going. Those trials began Monday night when an oxygen tank in their service module burst, exploding with it hopes for a lunar landing and putting the astronauts’ lives in jeopardy….
President Richard Nixon proclaimed Sunday as a day of national prayer and thanksgiving. He paid tribute to the astronauts’ courage and also to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those on the ground who helped transform potential tragedy into a heart-stopping rescue….
DELAWARE CONNECTION TO SPACE FLIGHTS:ILC Dover moves headquarters to University of Delaware STAR Campus
April 20, 1995, The News Journal
Terror in the heartland; 300 missing in Oklahoma blast
A car bomb ripped deep into America’s heartland Wednesday, killed at least 26 people and leaving 300 missing in a blast that gouged a nine-story hole in a federal office building in Oklahoma City.
The dead included at least 12 youngsters, some just dropped off by their parents at a daycare center.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the deadliest U.S. bombing in 75 years….
Attorney General Janet Reno refused to comment on who might have been behind the attack. President Bill Clinton called the bombers “evil cowards” and Reno said the government would seek the death penalty against them….
Bomb scare at Delaware federal building
The threat of terrorism became real for people in downtown Wilmington Wednesday, when a bomb threat emptied the federal office building just an hour after an explosion destroyed its Oklahoma City counterpart.
No bomb or suspicious package was found during a three-hour search of the six-story J. Caleb Boggs federal building at Ninth and King streets by state, county, city and federal law officers and three explosive-sniffing dogs….
CATCH UP ON HISTORY:News Journal archives, week of Jan. 30
April 21, 1999, The News Journal
Colorado school ripped by massacre
Two students in black trench coats swept through their suburban high school with guns and explosives in a horrifying suicide attack Tuesday that left as many as 25 people dead in Littleton, Colo.
Several students said the killers were gunning for minorities and athletes.
It was by far the bloodiest in a string of school shootings that have rocked U.S. communities over the past few years.
“One of them opened his cape and had a shotgun. Finally I started figuring out these guys shot to kill, for no reason,” said student Nick Foss. The gunman “didn’t say anything. When he looked at me, the guy’s eyes were just dead.”
The gunmen – both juniors at Columbine High School in this Denver suburb – were found dead in the school library with self-inflicted gunshot wounds and what appeared to be bombs around their bodies….
“It appears to be a suicide mission,” Sheriff John Stone said.
Students said the killers, whose names were not released, apparently belonged to a clique of outcasts called the “Trench Coat Mafia” who wore long black coats, boasted of owning guns and disliked Blacks, Hispanics and football players….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
