“Three hours of chaos”

New York Times: April 17, 2007

The lead was a human interest with timeliness and summarized the story.
Col. W. Steve Flaherty, state police superintendent, described as a “horrific crime scene” at Norris Hall.
Charles W. Steger, university’s president said the campus will be hosting convocation and that President Bush will be in attendance.
32 people were killed and the gunmen, at least 15 were injured, during the “three hours of chaos,” said an article in the N.Y. Times. The article had Survivors that told their stories. The sources in the article were very creditable and added “Schools should be places of sanctuary and safety and learning, President Bush said. “When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community.” The story structure was not an inverted pyramid and I feel that an inverted pyramid would have been best for this story. As a reader I wanted to know who was involved, how it happened and why did he do it. I feel like it started with what, who and a little bit about how it happened. A paragraph at the end of the story, I feel was very important and should have been told at the beginning. The paragraph talked about the gunman having two separate attacks with two hours in between them.

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17virginia.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin