“I sat straight up in bed. It sounded like a girl’s scream,” explained Molly.
The redheaded freshman continued, “As I was putting my clothes on, I heard four sharp sounds and another scream. I thought the legs of one of my neighbor’s loft beds had collapsed. I opened my dorm room door and looked down the hall. There was a pool of blood flowing from under Emily’s door. Sneaker prints were in the blood heading across the hall toward the elevator or stairs.”
“I was so scared!” Tears began to flow from her eyes. “I tried to open Emily’s door. As I pushed on the door, I realized there was a man’s body lying on the floor…”
Sarah Gale, a Campus Crusade Regional Director, and I were sitting with Molly and her family in an IHOP restaurant near VA Tech on Tuesday evening. Molly is a freshman very active with Campus Crusade.
In the next few minutes, Molly’s parents, sitting between Sarah and me, heard for the very first time the full story of what her daughter went through early Monday morning. Molly was the first person to discover the first murder victims!
For an eternity we shared in the tears, the tension and the horror of Monday as Molly shared the rest of her story. Just a few hours earlier, we had all heard the news that the body of one of Molly’s close friends had been identified by her parents at the morgue. Lauren was also active in Campus Crusade.
Dozens of CRU students, beginning with her student Bible Study leaders, the girls in her freshman Bible Study, her boyfriend Tom and the guys in his study have all rallied around Molly. She is trusting in her Lord. But her emotions are very raw and the tears come easily when she remembers.
Molly believes the shooter randomly chose the 4th floor to come out of the stairs and started opening the first doors. The girl at the first room always locks her door. Molly rarely locks her door, but because Tom had insisted she lock her door Sunday night she did. Emily’s door is often unlocked. Except for a locked door and for sleeping through her alarm, Molly believes she could have been the first person on the floor to meet the shooter.
Molly wants to tell her story. Molly has been mercifully protected from the press so far.
Molly, her parents and I agreed that I would get in touch with a few of my contacts at the largest news media. She will tell her story to a national audience under times and places of our choosing.
Then Molly will stop doing interviews!
She will be buffered and protected by her friends and the VA Tech Campus Crusade for Christ staff. I promised Molly and her parents, that Campus Crusade would do whatever it takes to help her feel safe. If she needs to get away with her friends, we’ll make it happen. As we sat together remembering, the slightest sound could startle her.
Molly is never alone. She will not be going back to her dorm room. I was with Molly and Tom last night until well after midnight as we moved around campus and from house to house where groups of her friends gathered to sing and pray. Some cried. Some watched videos or played games.
I was on the phone with the major networks until well after midnight. Around 11pm, Molly decided she didn’t want to do the live morning shows.
Please keep Molly in your prayers as she tells her story of horror and the comfort she is experiencing from the Lord with her friends.