Two Bomb Threats at Virginia Tech Last Week

April 16, 2007 — -- There have been two separate bomb threats in the past two weeks at Virginia Tech that targeted engineering buildings.

The first, in early April, was directed at Torgersen Hall, which is an engineering building. The second, at the end of last week, was directed at multiple engineering buildings.

Students and staff were evacuated, and the university had offered a $5,000 reward for information into the threats.

While the earlier shooting that killed one person was inside a Virginia Tech dormitory, the shooting around 9 a.m. inside Norris Hall, an academic building, killed dozens.

That building, according to the Virginia Tech Web site, offers many engineering classes on Monday mornings, including "Solid Mechanics" and "Theory of Elasticity."

Engineering student Josh Wargo, a junior at Virginia Tech, said he was sitting in class when students began to hear "loud banging noises" followed by screaming. He said many students panicked, some jumping out of a window two stories above ground level.

Wargo last week received e-mails about the bomb threats, but largely shrugged them off.

"I got the e-mails, but my impression was it was prank or nothing serious," said Wargo, describing the Blacksburg campus as "pretty peaceful."

The shooter's identity has not been released, but police confirmed that the gunman is among the 32 dead.