[Junior Richard Mallalieu] said his professor held the door shut while students darted to the windows. Some climbed on desks, ledges and a radiator cover to pull down the screens and kick at the metal-framed glass, Mallalieu said. Three windows easily gave way and swung open on hinges as the gunshots got louder.

Photo(s); Hours after the shootings, [Claire Hach] (center) sits with her sister, Ashley Hach, and fellow Virginia Tech student John Bert, all from the Towson area. Claire was the only one of the three who was on campus at the time. "In the beginning we weren't taking it seriously," she said. Richard Mallalieu, who was in class in Norris Hall when the shooting began, said he and several other students escaped through a second- floor window. Mallalieu said he never saw his teacher get out.; Credit: Monica Lopossay : Sun photographer Christopher T. Assaf : Sun photographer