On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 22 year old Ross Truett Ashley walked into his landlord’s office, pulled out a handgun, and demanded the keys to a Mercedes Benz.
On Thursday, December 8, 2011, Ross Ashley walked up to the unmarked patrol car of Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek Crouse, who was on a traffic stop, and shot him to death.
Mr. Ashley then ran through the Virginia Tech University campus before ultimately turning his gun on himself and ending his life.
The campus was placed on lockdown as news quickly spread of a gunman on the loose. While this would stir a panic at any school or university, the fact that it happened at Virginia Tech further alarmed many people. On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech was the scene of the worst school shooting, and the deadliest shooting incident by a lone gunman, in U.S. history. On that fateful day, 33 people, including the shooter, were killed and 25 others wounded. Many fault the responding officers’ reaction to the 2007 massacre. Since then many policies throughout the country have been changed and several books have been written about the events. Much has been learned about the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, who was 23 years old when this incident took place.
Ross Ashley is not as well known. Although who knows what will be revealed about his character and any potential demons he was battling with, most reports simply say he was a quiet business student at a nearby college. Other than recently shaving his head and running through his apartment hallways, he was hardly noticed. It will be interesting (to some) to see what is revealed about this otherwise “normal” appearing young man.
And while incidents like this happen far too often, the amount of attention being given to this shooting is its location. As Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said, “It's just unfortunate and almost inexplicable that you could have a series of these events happen in a short four-year period.”
Officer Crouse was married and had 5 children.
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