Teacher's bravery let students flee

<b>Ewen MacAskill
Wednesday April 18, 2007</b>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/Story/0,,2059729,00.html">The Guardian</a>

A survivor of the Holocaust died trying to save his students from the Virginia Tech gunman, it emerged yesterday.
Liviu Librescu, 76, who survived the Nazi killings, later escaped from communist Romania to become a respected aeronautics expert.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," his son, Joe Librescu, said from his home outside Tel Aviv.

Student Alec Calhoun told the Guardian how Mr Librescu&#39;s bravery bought him precious seconds after the killer started shooting in the next room. "I thought I was going to die. I started to make a barricade of desks."

Mr Calhoun went to jump out of the window. It was then he saw Mr Librescu. "I hung on to the ledge. The professor was trying to hold the door closed. I was the last one out that was not wounded."

When he finally forced his way in, Mr Librescu threw himself in front of the attacker, a student told Israel&#39;s Army Radio. "He was killed but thanks to him his students lived," the student said. Messages were posted on the web praising the professor. "No act could be more selfless." one poster wrote.

<B>On Guardian Unlimited</B><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/virginiashooting/">Full coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/0,,182056,00.html">Gun violence in the US</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/0,,178412,00.html">Gun violence in Britain</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/0,,759893,00.html">Full US coverage</A><BR><BR><B>Related articles</B><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/Story/0,,2059217,00.html">Virginia massacre gunman named</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2059103,00.html">Unofficial list of shooting victims emerges</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2058887,00.html">Massacre on campus</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2059250,00.html">Q&A: US gun laws</A><BR><BR><B>World news guide</B><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldnewsguide/northamerica/0,,618255,00.html">North American Media</A><BR><BR><B>Media</B><BR><A HREF="http://edition.cnn.com/">CNN</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/">Washington Post</A><BR><BR><B>Government</B><BR><A HREF="http://www.state.va.us/cmsportal2/">Virginia state government portal</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.usa.gov/">US government portal</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.whitehouse.gov/">White House</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.senate.gov/">Senate</A><BR><A HREF="http://www.house.gov/">House of Representatives</A>

Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007.

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Original Source:<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/Story/0,,2059729,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/Story/0,,2059729,00.html</a>

Ewen MacAskill

The Guardian

2007-08-12

Adriana Seagle

In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years.

Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk

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Virginia Tech professor &#39;died saving students&#39;

<b>Ewen MacAskill in Blacksburg
Tuesday April 17, 2007</b>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2059205,00.html">Guardian Unlimited</a>

Alec Calhoun, an engineering student at Virginia Tech, described today an individual act of bravery by one of his professors that saved his life.
Mr Calhoun, 20, had been in Room 204 in the college&#39;s Norris hall taking a class in solid mechanics. "We heard what sounded like an enormous hammer. We though it was construction. The scream told us it was something else."

The killer, having murdered two people two hours earlier, had started a shooting spree in the classroom next door. "I thought pretty early on that I was going to die. I started knocking desks over [to make a barricade]. Others were pulling the windows down. It is lucky someone thought of the windows."
The class was on the second floor and the first students to jump were hurt. "I was the eighth to jump. I hung onto the ledge. I saw the professor. I think he was trying to hold the door closed.
"I was the last one out that was not wounded. The two behind me were shot. I jumped onto a bush and fell onto my back. It was about a minute between hearing the shots and jumping out of the window."

He said his professor had been killed.

After reaching safety, he immediately phoned his father, James, a teacher, to tell them he was safe.

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Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007

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Original Source:<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2059205,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2059205,00.html</a>

Ewen MacAskill

Guardian Unlimited

2007-08-12

Adriana Seagle

In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years.

Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk

eng