美國當地時間4月16日，弗吉尼亞州發生驚人校園槍擊案，案發者在連殺32人之后開槍自斃。警方稱，槍擊首先發生在大學里的一座宿舍樓，兩個小時后，兇手在又前往工程系教學樓，向教室里的師生開槍。這是美國歷史上最嚴重的一起校園槍擊事件，兇犯作案動機不清楚。此外，學生們抱怨校方處理這起突發事件不當，沒有在第一時間通過公共廣播系統發布警報。學生們是在第一起槍擊事件發生兩小時后才從電子郵件中得到信息的，兇手此時已開始再次作案。  新聞圖片：校園槍擊案

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A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, shot up a classroom across campus Monday, killing 32 people in the deadliestshooting rampagein U.S. history. The gunman committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 33.

The massacre took place at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, acoed dormitorythat houses 895 people, and continuing at least two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building about a half-mile away, authorities said.

Two people were killed in a dormitory room, and 31 others were killed in the engineering building, including the gunman, police said.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

Investigators offered no motive for the attack. The gunman's name was not immediately released, and it was not known if he was a student.

The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus. Witnesses reporting students jumping out the windows of a classroom building to escape the gunfire. SWAT team members with helmets,flak jacketsand assault rifles swarmed over the campus. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive.

Students complained that there were no public-address announcements or other warnings on campus after the first burst of gunfire. They said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage - around the time the gunman struck again.

Steger defended the university's handling of the tragedy, saying: "We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."

Steger said the university decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means of notifying members of the university, but with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out. He said that before the e-mail went out, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms to notify them and sent people to knock on doors to spread the word.

At least 26 people were being treated at three area hospitals for gunshot wounds and other injuries, authorities said. Their exact conditions were not disclosed, but at least one was sent to a trauma center and six were in surgery, authorities said.

Up until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

（Agencies） 

Vocabulary: 

shooting rampage:亂槍掃射

coed dormitory:男女合住的宿舍

flak jacket：防彈衣

（英語點津陳蓓編輯）