Experts: Interior locks on classroom doors could save lives in Va. Tech-like rampages

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- After a student gunman killed four of his classmates and his German teacher and then left, Derek O'Dell had to wedge one of his sneakers under the classroom door to keep the attacker from returning to kill even more.

There was no lock on the door to protect Derek and his wounded classmates against Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 30 students and faculty members, plus himself, at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall. Two others were killed in a dormitory.

Safety experts say that while school officials across the nation re-evaluate campus safety in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy, many are overlooking a simple solution: putting locks on the inside of classroom doors.

"Often it's the simple stuff that will prevent a tragedy like this, and often it's the simpler things that will make the bigger difference," said Michael Dorn, a campus safety consultant and author of 19 books on the topic. "It's not the complex systems that cost millions of dollars."

O'Dell was shot in one arm, but he and some classmates barricaded the door to Room 207 with his shoe and their bodies -- "the heaviest thing in the room was bolted down and the desks were pretty flimsy," he said -- as Cho returned twice to try to finish them off. When he couldn't get in, Cho stepped back each time and fired a round into the door, one shot penetrating O'Dell's black fleece jacket but missing his body.

The repaired door of Room 204 of renovated Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va., is shown in this June 14, 2007, file photo. The door where Virginia Tech professor Liviu Librescu was shot April 16 while blocking entry by Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho now only has a lock and no doorknob. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

"It's kind of crazy to think that you have 1 1/2 or 2 inches of wood between you and a person with a gun who just killed half your classmates," said O'Dell, who is working at a veterinary clinic for the summer.

Colorado, the site of several school shootings including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, has lead the push to put locks on the inside of classrooms doors, said Vincent Wincelowicz, vice president for the Foundation for the Prevention of School Violence at Johnson & Wales University in Denver.

Most classrooms, including those at Virginia Tech, lock only by key and from the outside.

"A lock on a classroom door may cost $50 to $150, maybe $200 with installation, and it would certainly add a layer of protection that a security camera that's being remotely monitored may not afford," said Robert Siciliano, chief executive officer of PublicSchoolSecurity.com and author of "The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert."

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said a school committee looking into security changes is considering interior locks. "Right now there's nothing off the table, nothing on the table. It's definitely a consideration," he said.