Officials at local Catholic colleges expressed shock and sorrow at the Virginia Tech shootings on April 16, which claimed the lives of 30 students and two professors, along with the suicide of the gunman.

"We were absolutely horrified, as I think most people in the country were, by the unfolding of this violence," said Jane Lingua, vice president for student affairs at Mount St. Mary's College. "When we got the first report that one person was shot, it was sad enough. And as it rolled out over the morning, it just became absolutely horrendous for all of us."

Shane Armstrong, dean of students at Marymount College, told The Tidings on the day of the campus killings that her students were just becoming aware of the carnage in Virginia. But she anticipated that many would be affected when the reality sunk in, especially the Rancho Palos Verdes college's many international students who are far away from their families.

"We've put our student development team on alert, counseling services, our residential life staff and, of course, our campus ministry staff so that we're able to respond to students when the enormity of the situation really hits home with them," she said. "I think it has not fully hit them yet. And, of course, the news keeps changing. But the sinking in, I think, is beginning to happen."

The alleged murders by a Virginia Tech senior originally from South Korea is, in fact, being called the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Although the 2,600-acre, 26,000-student college's security has been seriously questioned, most experts agree that it's almost impossible to completely stop acts of violence on a large college campus.

Area Catholic colleges stress that they've taken measures in recent years to secure their own campuses. They also stress that their small size and close sense of community are vital factors that can negate random acts of violence.

"Mount St. Mary's is an extremely vigilant institution," Lingua pointed out. "We respond to the least nuance of hostility or distress in the community. So this greatly lessens the possibility of such violence on our campus. Though, of course, no one can guarantee safety 100 percent."

Armstrong of Marymount says every college campus today needs to have a clear crisis management plan because a crisis can happen "anywhere at any time." But she also believes that the two-year school with 650 students is small enough to give one-on-one attention to every student, making sure nobody falls through the cracks.

"I think the comfort that we have at Marymount is that we are a very close-knit community, and we have a very strong communication between faculty and staff, different departments and students," she reported. "And because we're so personable with our students, when something difficult happens - for example, we had a student pass away earlier in the week - we are able to quickly mobilize and have our support service ready to go and are able to respond."

But the dean of students says as prepared as her college is, what happened at Virginia Tech will make Marymount "stop and take stock again."

The campus carnage has made Mary Dacuma, a senior at the University of Southern California, do that. "It's just really shocking to me that even here it could happen," she said, taking a break from answering the phone in the Catholic Community Center. "Because I guess what the Virginia shooting proves is that it could happen anywhere.

"I would like to think that we're a welcoming community," she noted. "But I guess every college seems to pride themselves on that. So this just goes to show what happened was rare, but you never know."

Although Dacuma says hearing gunshots in surrounding South Los Angeles is a constant reminder to USC students that violence is not far away, once she walks on campus it's like stepping into another world. She still feels safe there. But the 21-year-old Angeleno acknowledges now there are lingering doubts, too, especially about other students.

"It's so much easier in college than in high school to assume that everyone is doing their own thing and are doing fine because you've gotten this far," she explained. "Especially at a reputable university like Virginia Tech or USC, you think that you must be doing something right.

"And, obviously, that's not always the case," she said. "Something like these shootings, where it's taken to the extreme, just really shows that anything can happen to anyone. And we really need to take it upon ourselves to take care of our own interdependence on each other."