Va. Tech Students Flock Online During Tragedy

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 17, 2006 — -- After a day of tragedy on Virginia Tech's campus -- a day one student described as "unreal" and another said had gotten "worse by the moment"-- the dawn breaks on Day 2.

Many will look to the morning's scheduled news conference for answers to new questions about the shooter, the second person of interest cited in the latest news reports and the 32 victims who died in Monday's attack.

But, as family members provide tearful and grim confirmations to the student body, the campus community counts the students who walk among them and who don't.

Like many friends and families of Va. Tech students, senior Ryan Clark's family used Facebook, the online social community, to post the message his friends most feared.

Clark's sister Nadia wrote, "God needed a good angel to come home. So he called my brother, Ryan."

As his death was confirmed by the family, other details began to emerge. Clark was the resident adviser in West Ambler Johnston Hall, the scene of the first shooting.

"The girl got shot that was his residence. And he was trying to protect her," Kristine Obusek told ABC News' "Nightline." "In doing so, he actually got shot. And then both of them ended up passing."

Liz Hart, a senior at Virginia Tech, spent most of Monday on the phone and online trying to assess what was happening based on the e-mails from campus officials, news reports and the firsthand accounts from students on campus that were posted in online communities. It seemed to be an activity that consumed most students Monday as details of the campus attack unfolded.

For Owen Nielsen, a senior who had a test at 9 a.m in Norris Hall and who left the building minutes before the shooting occurred, said he took firsthand accounts and news reports of the events with a dose of "skepticism."

"I put most of my trust in the e-mails I was getting from the university," Nielsen said.

A simply worded e-mail he received from University Relations at 9:50 a.m. -- after Nielsen said he had already left Norris Hall --