A former Virginia scientist living in Central Otago moved to New Zealand to "lessen the chance" of being involved in a shooting.
Brian Connor, a research scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) in Lauder, lived in Virginia for eight years and said itwas likely one of his three children would have been at Virginia Tech University if the family had not moved to New Zealand.
"I would have almost certainly been in Virginia and one of my children would have still been at that university."
Dr Connor, 55, who has lived in New Zealand for 11 years, said yesterday he felt helpless about the situation in his home country.
He had not spoken to anyone in Virginia but had friends and family he would contact.
Dr Connor and his wife have two university-age children who live in New Zealand and another who lives in the United States.
He said one of the reasons he moved to New Zealand was because there were fewer people, which lessened the chance of being involved in a shooting incident.
The town of Blacksburg would be devastated by the crime. He said the mainly rural community would be angry and resentful at the person who committed the crimes.
