Local leaders express condolences

OKLAHOMA CITY -- More than 100 government, business and community leaders from the Richmond area are visiting Oklahoma City as part of a trip organized by the Greater Richmond Chamber.

R. David Ross, president Kleos International, was able to confirm that his 22-year-old niece, a senior at Virginia Tech, was OK after the shootings.

"It's one of those things that's so devastating not only to Blacksburg but all of us in Virginia who've got relatives and friends who call Tech home . . . . It's one of those things you just can't get your arms around. . . . that you don't expect in a suburban community like Tech."

Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth University, made these lunchtime remarks after a visit to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was bombed in 1995.

"We visited the Murrah Building today. It's Oklahoma City's great tragedy. In Virginia, we've had an unspeakable tragedy today.

"I'd just like to have a moment of silence for the Virginia Tech family and for the families that have been affected by this enormous tragedy. It shows it can happen in our country and shows we have to do everything that we can that there are no more Murrah Buildings and no more tragedies like in Blacksburg today."

Robert S. Ukrop, president and chief executive officer of Ukrop's Super Markets, said during a lunch invocation:

"Our hearts go out the folks involved in the tragedy in Blacksburg. We ask that somehow they be comforted and given strength. We ask that there be an end to this violence that keeps happening around us."

Gary Armstrong, senior vice president of First Market Bank, has an 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, who is a freshman at Virginia Tech.

"She's starting to hear from friends of hers that they have friends -- sorority sisters -- who've been shot. . . . I'm devastated by it. It hurts a lot, and I worry about the environment my daughter is having to deal with during this tragedy."