Seven students from Idaho and Virginia campuses killed in attacks

The University of Idaho and the University of Virginia cancelled classes after separate weekend attacks that left seven students dead.

The Idaho case involved four students found dead inside a house near campus, in what police in the city of Moscow described as apparent homicides that have left “no ongoing threat”. Police later said they believe “that an edged weapon such as a knife was used”.

The Virginia case involves three members of the university football team apparently shot by a former player just as they returned by bus to Charlottesville from a class trip to Washington DC to see a play.

“The entire university community is grieving this morning,” UVA’s president, James Ryan, said in a statement. “My heart is broken for the victims and their families and for all who knew and loved them.”

The University of Idaho’s president, Scott Green, offered similar sentiments. “My wife Gabriella and I are simply heartbroken,” Mr Green said. “Words cannot adequately describe the light these students brought to this world or ease the depth of suffering we feel at their passing under these tragic circumstances.”

Idaho administrators cancelled classes for Monday, offered students extended counselling hours, and asked staff to be flexible with those who wanted to return home and spend time with families.

Virginia officials cancelled at least two days of classes and postponed a men’s basketball game. They had issued a series of alerts to students before announcing late in the morning that the suspected gunman – a former football player who attracted police attention a year ago as a possible armed threat – had been captured.

Police investigating the Idaho killings said that nobody was in custody but said that the preliminary investigation suggested the community faced no further danger related to the case.

The US is the global leader in international student enrolment, although surveys have suggested that fear of violence in a nation of limited restrictions on guns is a leading concern for those coming from abroad. The US is by far the leader in firearm homicides among the world’s high-income countries, and it has seen nearly 600 mass shootings this year, including at least 15 on college campuses.

Virginia is the site of the deadliest ever attack in a college setting, the 2007 killing of 32 people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University by an undergraduate from South Korea believed to be suffering from anxiety and depression.

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com