Tragedy Hits Home for David Wright

According to the Star-Ledger (the second photo is of the identified psycho, Cho Seung-Hui)...

It took a few hours, but David Wright was finally able to track down his brother, Stephen, yesterday afternoon.

Stephen Wright, 21, is an engineering student at Virginia Tech, where a gunmen killed more than 30 people on campus yesterday morning before turning the gun on himself in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history.

With a game here against the Phillies scheduled for last night, the Mets third baseman said he slept in yesterday and, when he awoke, turned on the TV and learned what had happened in Blacksburg, Va.

"Your heart kind of skips a beat a little bit," Wright said after last night's game at Citizens Bank Park was rained out and rescheduled for June 29 as part of a day-night doubleheader.

The eldest of four brothers who were raised in Chesapeake, Va., the 24-year-old Wright said he couldn't get through to Stephen's cell phone but did get through to another brother, Matthew, a freshman at James Madison University, immediately after seeing what had happened on television. Matthew had already spoken to their mother, who had spoken to Stephen, who let her know that he was all right.

"It was kind of scary as a family member seeing what was going on," David Wright said. "He's all right but it was scary turning on the TV and seeing a shooting at a school. Any school. But especially one that your brother is at."

After several dropped calls and voice mails that went unanswered, Wright said he spoke to his brother at about 2 p.m., nearly five hours after the last of the shootings.

A senior, Stephen Wright lives in an apartment -- David said he was unsure whether it is on campus or off -- and takes some of his classes at Norris Hall, the engineering building where the second round of killings took place.

David Wright, who spoke to his brother only briefly because it was so difficult to get through, said he was uncertain whether Stephen was actually on campus at the time of the shootings.

"It's one of the buildings he has class in," he said. "One of the main engineering buildings. I think he has a class in that building later in the day. I'm not 100 percent sure."

"He's shaken up," Wright said. "He's trying to call his friends to make sure that everybody he thought might be there is okay."

While Wright is a National League All Star who signed a 6-year, $55-million contract extension last season, he sounded a little in awe of his brother's intelligence. He gave a blank stare when asked what branch of engineering his brother was majoring in.

"He's extremely smart," he said. "One day I'll be working for him."