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BLACKSBURG, Virginia: Virginia Tech University student Erin Sheehan recalled on Monday how she played dead to save herself as a gunman burst into her German class and methodically mowed her classmates down.
Sheehan, sporting glasses and a shaved head, spoke calmly as she recounted to CNN her brush with the killer responsible for the deadliest school shooting spree in US history that left a total of 33 people dead.
"He was, I would say, about a little bit under six feet tall, young looking, Asian, dressed sort of strangely, almost like a boy scout, very short-sleeved, light, tan shirt and some sort of ammo vest with black over it," Sheehan said.
She said he was carrying what appeared to be a black handgun and peeked in twice to the class before later coming back with murderous intent.
"He just stepped within five feet (1.5 meters) of the door and started firing," said Sheehan, a freshman and mechanical engineering major.
"He seemed very thorough about it, getting almost everyone down. I was trying to act dead," she said.
"He left for about 30 seconds, came back in, did almost exactly the same thing. I guess he heard us still talking.
"And then we forced ourselves against the door so he couldn't come in again, the door would not lock. And so he came and tried to force himself in another three times and started shooting through the door."
Sheehan said the class had 25 people in it plus the professor. "When we left, only four of us left," she said. "Everyone else was unconscious, either dead or wounded seriously."
- AFP/so
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