The building he entered was being evacuated in the wake of the most deadly shooting spree in U.S. history, but Virginia Tech freshman Gregg Tabot was taking the elevator up to the third floor.

After his morning class had finished nearby, Tabot slapped on his headphones and strolled through the front door of the student resource center, ready to get some work done. But when the elevator arrived at its destination, the third floor spread out in front of him like a veritable "ghost town."

Glancing around the "suspicious" scene, Tabot took his headphones off and was greeted by the screams of police downstairs, telling everyone to get out.

After a gunman killed 33 people, including himself, on the Virginia Tech campus yesterday morning, many students told similar stories of ordinary days inexplicably broken by an awful reality.

More than six hours away, Penn State students reacted to the news with dismay, concern and hope.

All day long students watched the continual news coverage while trying to reach their friends and family at Virginia Tech.

John Deegan (sophomore-professional golf management) said he had directly spoken with a friend at the university.

"He said he was coming out of his dorm and told to go back inside," Deegan said in the early afternoon. "He told me they are pretty much in lockdown right now and they were told to stay away from windows."

Later that evening, more than 50 people gathered in the HUB-Robeson Center for a prayer session for those affected by the tragedy.

Ali Soheilian (sophomore-business), who organized the meeting, said he could imagine a similar situation happening at Penn State.

"If it could happen at a place as nice and beautiful a place as Virginia Tech, it could happen anywhere," he said. "It was just a random, senseless act of violence."

State College Mayor Bill Welch echoed that sentiment at last night's borough council meeting.

"It could've happened anywhere, even Happy Valley," he said, opening the meeting with a moment of silence.

Former Penn State students now studying at Virginia Tech said the shootings shocked a community waking up to a seemingly ordinary morning.

"I went into my office this morning just as any other normal day -- but it didn't turn out like any normal day," Amy Carrozzino, a Penn State alumna and Virginia Tech grad student, said in an e-mail message. "I won't ever forget what happened."

Matthew Waldron, a sophomore football player who transferred from Penn State to Virginia Tech, was also minding his business -- headphones on -- as he walked across campus toward the Norris Building, where 31 of the 33 lives were taken more than two hours after the first shooting in a dormitory.

At that moment, a bunch of police officers "came screeching by" and a professor opened up the door of a nearby building and yelled at everyone to get inside.

"We could see Norris Hall out the back window and two minutes later, about 150 people came running out of the building with their hands up. They were just screaming," he said.

A short time later, he watched from inside as two kids were carried from the scene after jumping from the top floor of the building to escape the gunman.

Adam Smith (freshman-finance) transferred to Penn State after spending his fall semester at Virginia Tech.

"I'm sitting here thinking 'I passed those places every day.' What would've happened had I not transferred? I could've been walking to class," he said.

Several students said they think tragedy could have been avoided if the university had sent out warning e-mail messages after the first shooting at 7:15 a.m.

Waldron said he would have stayed in his off-campus apartment if he were informed of a gunman yesterday morning.

"My take on this situation is that it is simply ridiculous that we, as students, were not informed of the situation and were allowed to walk right into the dangerous scene," Anna Badikian, a junior at Virginia Tech, wrote in an e-mail message.

Other students said they thought Virginia Tech handled the situation the best it could considering the circumstances.

"[The administration] thought that the first thing was already over with, so I guess I can understand why they wouldn't have canceled classes," David Ellison, a sophomore at Virginia Tech, said.

Ellison slept through his morning classes and was awoken by his roommate, who told him what had happened that morning.

"I've definitely thought about how a lot of kids have to figure out what college they want to go to by about May, so this could definitely affect some people's choices for where they go to school," he said.

While yesterday's campus death toll was unprecedented, many said that incidents like that just don't happen in small-town Blacksburg.

"Blacksburg is a sleepy college town, much like State College, where people don't even lock their doors," said John Bodnar, a Penn State graduate student and Blacksburg native, in an Internet message. "It is terrible to think that Blacksburg and Virginia Tech will now suffer the same notoriety as Columbine."

Meghan Tierney, (junior-public relations) said she will be collecting donations for the shooting victims and their families at The Diner, 126 W. College Ave. She has started a Facebook group and is contacting Virginia Tech faculty members to find out where to send the money.