Wicklow Pair Lose Friends in US Massacre

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Wicklow Pair Lose Friends in US Massacre

Wednesday, April 18 2007

An Irish politics lecturer at Virginia Tech has expressed his shock at learning that the gunman who took the life of his close friend was an English language student.

Nicholas Kiersey (32), from Blessington, Wicklow, said he had imagined that the Virginia Tech killer had been struggling with a high-pressure course.

Mr Kiersey's close friend Reema Samaha was the final victim of the South Korean gunman.

The Lebanese woman was in the same dance troupe as Mr Kiersey's girlfriend Madigan, and the couple had enjoyed a day out with her last weekend.

Mr Kiersey, who spent five years as a student at Virginia Tech before becoming a lecturer, said he believes that his fellow graduate student and friend Esther Ryan, also from Wicklow, may also have lost close friends during the gun attack.

Post-grad engineering student Ms Ryan told friends on her Bebo page that her friend's husband and another male friend were missing.

UCD offered three Irish undergraduate students flights home as the extent of the tragedy unfolded. Liam Brennan, Eoin Butler and Nicola Greene, who are studying a year-long engineering course, were on the campus when the shootings took place.

The Dublin college is also opening an online book of condolences that will be sent to Virginia Tech.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern offered "whatever assistance" was required to the students and liaised with their college in Belfield.

It is understood that all of the Irish students have decided to complete their studies before returning home in May.

"I thought my friends and I had got away with it, but Reema died in hospital," Mr Kiersey told the Irish Independent as he made his way to a memorial service at the college yesterday.

He said he had never heard of the gunman but was mystified about his motivation. "English is not known to be a high-pressure course," he said.

"I thought he might have been in engineering at first, as the students on that programme are under a lot of pressure."

Undergraduate student Nicola Greene, from Ballinacoola near Gorey, said she was about to leave for a class at 10am when she got an email informing her to stay indoors.

"It seemed odd at first because before 10am you need to swipe a card to prove you're a resident of the building," she said. "It made me suspicious that anybody could have got into the building that was not a student."

Her parents said she would remain at the college until her exams in May.

"Nicola is very calm," said her father John.

"She will not be coming home yet as there are exams to be done and grades to be achieved.

"It's been an absolutely wonderful experience for her up to now. It will probably be safer there now than it has ever been."

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