The first most students at Virginia Tech heard of the shootings was a round-robin e-mail entitled: "Please stay put."

The message said simply: "A gunman is loose on campus. Stay in buildings until further notice. Stay away from all windows."

Stuck where they were terrified students started living their nightmare over the Internet and sharing what information they could in blogs, forums and instant messaging services.

One poster called Sugad published what he claimed was an Instant Messenger conversation he was having with his brother, named in reports as Derek O'Dell, who had just come out of "a small German class, maybe 15 people".

ME (1:08:03 PM): so he came into your class?

Bro (1:08:08 PM): yeah

Bro(1:08:17 PM): i didnt think there was any way id live

Bro(1:08:52 PM): he finally left and me and the one other guy [later named on TV as Trey Perkins] that wasn't shot ran to the door and held it shut

Bro(1:09:04 PM): and he tried to come back in and was shooting through the door

me(1:09:27 PM): holy shit

me(1:09:48 PM): what kind of gun was it

Bro(1:09:55 PM): pistol

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