Steger said that after the dormitory shootings -- in which a male resident advisor and a female student were killed -- officials notified other dorm resident advisors to take precautions. The building was searched and secured by police, he said.
Authorities identified the "person of interest" and decided it was not necessary to shut down campus. In addition, Steger said, officials felt that commuter students headed for class would be more easily protected once they were on campus.
Asked whether police were pursuing the wrong person while the gunman was preparing to open fire at Norris, Flinchum replied: "We acted on the best information we had at the time."
Added Steger: "We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur."
But at 9:45 a.m., it did.
As campus officers were questioning witnesses in the dorm shooting, reports of a second attack poured in to 911.
An amateur video taken by a student from a cellphone showed several officers hesitating outside Norris Hall, then positioning themselves behind a tree before finally rushing inside.
"I was walking on campus and I saw police shooting," the student, Jamal Azim Albarghouti, said. "They dropped a gas bomb, a tear gas bomb or something at the building, and I think they were shooting too."
Michael O'Brien, a sophomore studying industrial engineering, said he received the e-mail about the first shooting but continued to class at Norris just as the second shooting began.
"I could tell something was wrong," O'Brien said, when he saw people staring at the building as he approached. "But it didn't really register with me with the earlier e-mail.
"Then I heard a gunshot. I saw students rushing out of Norris Hall, being directed by police officers where to go."
He said he hurried back to his dorm, and could see Norris Hall from his window.
"I saw police cars from all different levels -- state, local, county -- rush by. Ambulances, SWAT vans. I could see police officers carrying what looked to be bodies out of the back of the hall and into ambulances."
Tyler Benson, a student who lives at West Ambler Johnston, said he was asleep during the first shooting. Later, he saw police tape around the building and officers directing people down the stairs.
"I saw a bunch of people looking over toward the Norris area," Benson said. "Then there was a cop who turned around and ran at us, told us to 'run, run, run,' get out of there. We all ran away from campus. And as I was running away, I could hear a couple of shots going off."
