Interviewee: Derek O’Dell

Interviewer: Katie Couric

Date: April 16, 2007

On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech University was the site of the deadliest shooting incident in America’s history. Katie Couric interviews Derek O’Dell, a student who was in his sophomore year and majoring in Biology when the crazed Seung-Hui Cho went on a homicidal warpath. In the interview, O’Dell recounts his experience that fateful day.

That day, Derek came to the Blacksburg campus for his 9:05 AM classes in Elementary German, at Room 207 of Norris Hall. During the lecture, Derek heard what he dismissed as hammering sounds made by construction workers. Then at around 9:20 AM, Seung-Hui Cho barged into the classroom.

No sooner had Cho opened the door than he opened fire, hitting Professor Jamie Bishop in the head and the student beside O’Dell. Acting on instinct, O’Dell ducked underneath the desk—but not before incurring three gunshots. Cho further emptied his gun—point blank—at everyone else. All that time, Derek was crawling flat on his belly towards the opposite end of the gunman. Without ado, Cho left the room.

In the wake of the shooting spree, Bishop and four students were dead. Of the thirteen people in the room, two were spared while O’Dell and five others were injured. Only then did O’Dell realize that his arm was wounded.

O’Dell used the respite to make a tourniquet and call 911 with his cell phone. Derek, a boy, and a wounded girl, then obstructed the door by wedging their feet between the ground and the door.

Later, the homicidal South Korean returned. He struggled to open the door but failed, so he fired six shots, which proved to be equally ineffectual. Lying on the floor, the three were safe beyond the line of fire however. Once again, the gunman left, until he made another futile attempt at the door a short time later.

Eventually, the madman committed suicide, joining the 32 dead in the massacre.