Feb 14, 2008 4:33 pm US/Central
Virginia Tech Survivor Talks About NIU Massacre
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Garrett Evans of Chicago survived the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech University and spoke out with advice for those who survived Thursday's deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University.
CBS
When you hear about Thursday's campus shooting at Northern Illinois University, you can't help but think about the deadly Virginia Tech shootings last year.
CBS station WBBM-TV's Mike Parker talked to a man from the Chicago area who survived the massacre at Virginia Tech about how the shooting rampage at NIU conjured up the horror from his own experience.
"This just tells me the pain that's just out there in this world, in this country. We've had so many shootings," Garret Evans said.
In April of 2007, Evans, a lifelong Chicagoan, was sitting in German class at Virginia Tech when suddenly he and his fellow students saw a young armed man burst into the room.
"He had a look of fierce concentration, 'I'm going to take people out and I'm not leaving here until I do.'"
The Virginia Tech gunman took 31 lives that cold spring day in Blacksburg, Virginia. Many others were wounded and survived.
Although he spent weeks recovering from wounds to both legs, Evans was one of the lucky ones and he has words of experience for those who will survive this latest tragedy.
"Talk to people. Stay close to those who were in it with you because I still talk to a few people. Also, forgive. It's the hardest thing in the world to do, arguably. Because, if you carry that with you, you are going to hurt so bad. It's going to weigh you down and eat you up," Evans said.
Garrett Evans went on to graduate and now spends time talking to students. He wants to let them know there are peaceful ways to deal with their problems and he's created a web-based program called "school dispatch" which helps schools and universities reach out quickly to students and parents when there's any kind of emergency.
Evans thinks NIU did a great job of handling such information Thursday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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