Published: April 18, 2007 11:58 am      

Cumberland resident's son shot twice in Virginia Tech massacre

CUMBERLAND - They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but certainly none can describe the horror a Cumberland family must have felt when a photo of four officers carrying a young male student surfaced a day after 33 people were killed during a series of shootings at Virginia Tech.

According to Cumberland resident Randy Sterne, the male student being carried away from his Norris Hall classroom is his 22-year-old son, Kevin Sterne, a double major senior who was shot twice Monday.

Overnight the photo quickly became the face of devastation for what is being called the worst U.S. shooting spree in history, with news outlets such as The Roanoke Times and The Washington Times splashing the photo across their front pages.

"It really upsets me what happened," Randy Sterne said when reached by cell phone Tuesday morning. "We just thank God (Kevin) was one of those who was spared."

Sterne was returning from dental surgery Monday afternoon when his ex-wife, who lives in Eighty-Four, Pa., called him around 3:30 p.m. to alert him of the shootings at the Blacksburg, Va., campus. When the family learned its son, who attended Bel Air Elementary as a child, was indeed one of the victims, both parents immediately packed their separate cars for the long drive down to Montgomery Regional Hospital.

Sterne eventually learned Kevin had been shot twice, once in the leg and once in the hip. One bullet is believed to have gone straight through his leg, severing an artery along the way. Another bullet was still lodged in Kevin's body as of Monday, which Randy said may require additional surgery to remove.

An earlier news report stated Kevin was in intensive care Monday, but Randy said Kevin was "conscious" and "aware" Tuesday morning, watching CNN news "with everyone else."

Kevin, an Eagle Scout, may have saved his own life by tying a tourniquet around his leg to stop the bleeding.

"The doctor said if he hadn't done it, if he hadn't lost his life, he certainly would have lost his leg," Randy said.

Kevin was scheduled to graduate May 11 with two degrees in electrical engineering and media communications. His father said he's been accepted to graduate school at Virginia Tech and the University of Colorado, but Kevin will likely require extensive therapy, Randy said, adding his son's future education plans are "the furthest from our worries."

While in Virginia, Sterne and his family are staying with a retired Presbyterian minister who opened his doors when the hospital administrator told Randy all nearby hotels were booked.

"(The hospital's) been very helpful," Randy said. "We had no idea where to stay and they went over and above the call of duty to make things happen for us last night."

Although police officers have been interviewing Kevin, Randy said family members are trying to refrain from asking too many questions. Calling the shootings "a horrific experience," Randy said he'll wait for Kevin to share the details on his own time.

"There's not a whole lot he can say about it right now," he said. "They tell me three students (who were) around him, all three all among the 30 dead. So he was lucky."

Also attending Virginia Tech is Allegany County Administrator Vance Ishler's daughter, an engineering student, who was not injured.

Tai Shadrick can be reached at tshadrick@times-news.com.