On January 16, 2002, Peter Odighizuwa arrived on the
Appalachian School of Law campus with a handgun. Odighizuwa first discussed his academic problems with professor Dale Rubin, where he reportedly told Rubin to pray for him. According to a county
coroner, powder burns indicated that both victims were shot at
point blank range. and one unarmed student. There are two versions of the events that transpired at that moment, one by Tracy Bridges and one by Ted Besen. According to Bridges, at the first sound of gunfire, he and fellow student Mikael Gross, unbeknownst to each other, ran to their vehicles to retrieve their personally-owned firearms stored in their glove compartments. Mikael Gross, a police officer from
Grifton, North Carolina, retrieved a 9 mm pistol and body armor. Bridges, a county sheriff's deputy from
Asheville, North Carolina, retrieved his
.357 Magnum pistol from beneath the driver's seat of his
Chevrolet Tahoe. Bridges and Gross approached Odighizuwa from different angles, with Bridges yelling at Odighizuwa to drop his gun. Odighizuwa then dropped his firearm and was subdued by several other unarmed students, including Ted Besen, Daniel Boyd, and Todd Ross. According to Besen, before Odighizuwa saw Bridges and Gross with their weapons, Odighizuwa set down his gun and raised his arms like he was mocking people. Besen, a Marine veteran and former police officer in
Wilmington, North Carolina, engaged in a physical confrontation with Odighizuwa, and knocked him to the ground. Bridges and Gross then arrived with their guns once Odighizuwa was tackled. Once Odighizuwa was securely held down, Gross went back to his vehicle and retrieved handcuffs to detain Odighizuwa until police could arrive. Police reports later noted that two empty eight round magazines designed for Odighizuwa's handgun were recovered. Most sources (including those quoting
Virginia State Police spokesman Mike Stater) state that when Odighizuwa dropped the gun the magazine was empty. A report by another witness's hometown newspaper, a month after the shooting, suggested that the gun still held three cartridges. ==Perpetrator==