PHILADELPHIA (AP) -David Wright quickly reached for his cell phone when he heard about the Virginia Tech massacre. It took a while before the All-Star third baseman knew his younger brother was safe.
“Never in your wildest dreams do you expect something this cruel and this senseless to happen, especially in the United States at a college campus in such a nice community,” Wright said before the New York Mets played the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.
“You wonder what goes through someone’s mind to do that. You can’t fathom something like this. You get angry. You question what goes through his mind. My heart goes out to all the families.”
Stephen Wright is a 21-year-old engineering major at Virginia Tech. David Wright was with the Mets in Philadelphia when he heard about the shootings Monday morning. Phone lines were tied up so it wasn’t until 2 p.m. EST that David spoke to his brother. He learned shortly before from another brother, Matthew, that Stephen was unharmed.
“He was shaken up seeing his classmates murdered,” Wright said. “It’s tough. It could’ve been anybody. These kids were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Thirty-three people were killed, including the lone gunman, during Monday’s rampage through a dormitory and classrooms on the Virginia Tech campus at Blacksburg, Va.
“Soon as you learn he’s OK, you put yourself in the shoes of the these families,” Wright said. “It’s tough.”
Stephen Wright has no plans to transfer, according to David.
The tragedy hit close to home for Mets closer Billy Wagner, who lives in Charlottesville, Va.
“It’s disturbing whether its Virginia or North Carolina or wherever,” Wagner said. “It’s an unthinkable thing to happen.”
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