Three members of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team (NRT), Anne Van Allen and the Reverends Robert Barnes and James Kirk, are on their way to the campus to be a presence and resource to the community. Over the years, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has been very engaged in helping communities and student survivors that have been affected by school shootings.
The Reverend Robert Barnes of Santa Fe, New Mexico is a retired police chaplain with extensive training and experience in responding to school shootings. He was the lead on behalf of PDA in response to the shooting in Columbine, Colorado.
The Reverend James Kirk is the Associate Pastor at Moorings Presbyterian Church, Naples, Florida. Jim also has extensive training and experience in responding to school shootings and similar events.
Anne Van Allen from Annapolis, Maryland is a retired school counselor with more than 30 years of school-related mental health experience.
At least thirty-one people were killed in the shootings at the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. Another 29 people were injured. Many of the victims were students shot in a dorm and a classroom building. This shooting is the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, topping the 1966 shooting at the University of Texas at Austin, where 16 people were killed, and the Columbine High School shootings, where 12 people where killed.
According to the Virginia Tech Web site, “The Virginia Tech Police Department has identified the shooter as a 23-year-old undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at Virginia Tech.
Classes are canceled for the remainder of the week to allow students to mourn and begin healing. Norris Hall, one of the sites where multiple students were killed, has been closed for the remainder of the semester.”
NRT members have been in contact with Catherine Snyder, Presbyterian campus minister. She has been at the hospital with one of the students who was shot and who is expected to survive.
Other contacts include George Goodman of the Presbytery of the Peaks and Alexander Evans, Pastor of Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. Evans is also a chaplain with the fire department and the son of Reverend John Evans, long time minister of the PC(USA) and PCUS.
The whole community of faith is involved in the response. A Lutheran Disaster Response statement says "At this time, we anticipate that there will be long-term spiritual and emotional needs on the campus, as well as throughout the state and the entire country, as more is learned about the full extent of this tragedy."
A convocation service is being held on the campus Tuesday, April 17, 2007, to help the community cope with the tragedy. Counselors are available to students and staff in the West Ambler Johnston residence hall, where some of the shootings occurred, and in another school building.
Mark Koenig, of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, has also made contact with the affected community and says they are very grateful for the tremendous and quick response from the church and, indeed, the world community.
Please keep the loved ones of those killed and injured, the school administrators and teachers, the residents of the community, and the caregivers in your thoughts and prayers.
Helpful Links
provides an overview of the issue and suggestions for understanding school violence. It is part of The Why Files, funded by the National Science Foundation.
is the subject of this site sponsored by the American Psychological Association. |
