Friday, April 20, 2007
Matt Webster: Smithfield student played dead while gunman stood over him
Chris Tyree | The Virginian-Pilot
Matthew Webster
- Age: 23
- Hometown: Smithfield, VA
- Major: Engineering
- Parent: Kim Babb
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He thought about skipping his 9 a.m. solid mechanics class Monday, but went because his professor, Liviu Librescu, took a liking to him.
Little did Matthew Webster know where his decision would lead. It began with hearing sounds outside his Norris Hall classroom -- noise he thought was construction.
Screams followed. Then his professor tried blocking a gunman from shoving his way into the room, while his classmates kicked out screens and leapt out second-floor windows.
Webster and those who remained hit the floor. He curled up and played dead while Cho Seung-Hui stood over him with a gun in each fist, then aimed for Webster's head.
By the time it was over, Webster was one of just three students left in the room. The professor who liked him was dead. The bullet meant for Webster's skull grazed his head, then ricocheted into his right arm.
A puddle of blood seeped under Webster and a young man beside him, shot in the leg. Both were aware of what was going on.
They tried asking the other student -- a woman -- where she was hurt. All she could do was moan.
Webster knew police were on their way -- as the shooting started, someone called 911. When the SWAT team burst in, he held his hands up and said he was injured.
There was one more bullet before Webster was carried to freedom. He and his rescuers were greeted by chains on the front door as they walked downstairs, out of the building. A rescuer's gunshot blew them away.
Webster spent three hours in Montgomery Regional Hospital, leaving with his arm in a sling and pieces of cinder block and wooden desk bits buried in his hand and knee.
As the day and the news progressed, Webster and his family came to a realization.
"There were a lot of people worse off than me."
-- Erinn Hutkin; The Washington Post; and The Virginian-Pilot
