Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter

Jamaican tertiary students at Virginia Tech in the United States yesterday joined other members of the university community in acts of remembrance.

As was the case the day of the shooting, the Jamaican graduate students at Virginia Tech with whom The Gleaner spoke yesterday knew of no fellow countryman or woman who had been caught up in the incident.

Kerri-Anne Burrell, a 25-year-old native of Spanish Town, was on her way to buy candles for a vigil when contacted yesterday afternoon. With students having entered a period of mourning, the mood on campus was much quieter, said Ms. Burrell.

"There is a lot of emotion, yesterday could be described as chaotic, but today (Tuesday) is tranquil," she explained. She said that, in her capacity as a teaching assistant, she taught one of the persons killed but declined to name the person ahead of an official release.

Names to be released

A notice on the Virginia Tech website yesterday said the names of the 32 deceased students and faculty members would be officially released once all victims are positively identified and next-of-kinnotified.

Fulbright scholar Fleur Gooden, 38, from Kingston, a member of the Virginia Tech's Caribbean Society, said she knew of six Jamaicans at the university. She said that, to her knowledge, none lived in the dormitory building where 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui allegedly shot dead two people nor did any take classes in the engineering building where the gunman killed 30 before turning the gun on himself.

However, Ms. Gooden acknowledged that there could be other Jamaican students at the university of whom she was unaware.

"As far as we know everyone is saf I haven't spoken to everyone personally," she said, adding that she knew of one Jamaican female student, who lived in a dormitory adjacent to the first shooting site, who had reported she was safe.

Local crime rate

Ironically when choosing to attend Virginia Tech, Ms. Gooden said she had researched the local crime rate and found just five murders in 12 years. This among the university town of Blacksburg's nearly 40,000 population of which 25,000 are students.

With the story developing 'Hokies' - the nickname for members of the university community - are relying on the Internet and television news and keeping in touch by email for updates, said Andr Crawford, 30, from St. Thomas.

See related story in International Section

ross.sheil@gleanerjm.com