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Families of victims left in shock over shooting

Ryan Clark of Martinez, Georgia, in the 2002 Lakeside High School yearbook. Clark is one of the shooting victims of the massacre at Virginia Tech. PHOTO: AP

Ryan Clark was known as Stack here on the rolling campus of Virginia Tech, an amiable senior memorable for his ready smile and thoughtful ways.

He was studying biology and English and had hoped to pursue a doctorate in psychology, with a focus on cognitive neuroscience.

He was among the first victims of the deadliest school shooting rampage in the nation's history. Neither Virginia Tech nor the police here have identified the victims. But students and the coroner in Clark's home county in Georgia confirmed his identity.

A student resident adviser at the West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory, Clark was apparently rushing over to investigate what was going on when he came upon the gunman, said a student who lives on the fourth floor, where the first shootings took place.

Tall and thin, Clark, of Augusta, Georgia, was well-liked and a member of the university's marching band, the Marching Virginians, students in the dormitory said.

The band's Web site has an image of him participating in a food drive and says he enjoyed, among other things, "making t-shirts with his partner in crime, Kim Daniloski, and haggling with street vendors."

It fell to Vernon Collins, the coroner of Columbia County, Georgia, to tell Clark's mother about his death.

"She was in shock," Collins said. "It started out in disbelief. She was praying what I was telling her was wrong, and I felt the same way. I wished I didn't have to tell her that.

"It was horrible, you know, to walk up to somebody you don't know and tell them they've lost a loved one. It's the hardest part of my job."

Collins also had to break the news to Clark's twin brother, Bryan.

"I explained as best I could what limited information I had," he said.

"There's no way you can sugarcoat that somebody has died a tragic death," Collins said. "They knew, when they saw us there. I could hear the TV in the background talking about the incident. They knew. For what other purpose would we be showing up?"

two professors

Families in India and Israel yesterday mourned two professors among the 32 people killed in the shooting rampage.

Liviu Librescu, 76, an engineering science and mathematics lecturer, tried to stop the gunman from entering his classroom by blocking the door before he was fatally shot, his son said yesterday from Tel Aviv, Israel.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," said Joe Librescu. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

Librescu immigrated to Israel from Romania in 1978 and then moved to Virginia in 1985 for his sabbatical, but had stayed since then, said Joe Librescu, who himself studied at the school from 1989 to 1994.

Another foreign professor was also killed. Indian-born G.V. Loganathan, 51, a lecturer at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was felled by the gunman, his brother G.V. Palanivel told the NDTV news channel from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
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