Greetings family and friends,

I have just spent the last hour and a half watching the news. News of my university. My campus, the building that I have gone into every semester for the past 3 years. The building that I was teaching on in friday. The building that I’m meant to teach in on friday.

At about 11:20 am today, A man in his 30s walked into a tutorial room on the 6th floor of the Robert Menzies building of the Clayton Campus of Monash University and started shooting. Two people were found dead in the room by ambulance officers. Two people jumped the gunman, I believe sustaining injuries in the process. Reports have varied between 5 and 10 people injured. It seems that 5 is the correct number. One girl was carried (or walked) into the union building health-care center who had been shot in the face. People are being treated. There are two in a serious condition, I just hope they pull through okay.

I was sitting in Wholefoods at the time. Wholefoods is the student run vegetarian and vegan restaurant on campus. It’s on the opposite side of the union building (not facing the menzies). We got told over the PA system that the doors were being locked, and if we wanted to leave the building, we could press the ‘green buttons’ that open the doors after hours.

Soon after, we got notice that there had been an incident in the menzies building. one of the guys working there managed to get out of him that it was a shooting. there were helicopters circling.

every part of the union building was locked up. people were staying put. Somewhere around this time I managed to find out that two people had been killed. Reports were starting to get through. People were still in the menzies. nobody really knew what was going on.

people were filtering in who didn’t know what had happened. i managed to fill some people in with what i knew. I’d managed to get Kristyn to try some news sources, found out a little more.

Some time soon I headed over to MSA (the Monash Student Association, our student union) to see how ppl there were coping (got friends there). For the rest of the day, until about 5:30, i was doing what i could.

Media was around like a circus. some being real fucks. All sorts of stories were flying about. We got most of our news via talkback radio and the net.

i think it’s just starting to sink in. it’s been really a strange day. I’m just looking forward to some time to relax. Hopefully I’ll be able to tonight.

Sorry if I haven’t made much sense, but I am okay. Everyone I know that I’ve managed to get hold of says they’re okay too.

until next time,
take care.