Sen. Cates says 'innocence lost' at Virginia Tech

Sen. Gary Cates gave an emotional speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, saying his memories of attending Virginia Tech were forever stained by Monday's fatal shootings.

"To say it was a national tragedy would be an understatement," said Cates, a 1978 graduate, before asking for a moment of silence to remember the victims.

"Watching this unravel yesterday on TV was probably one of the hardest things I had to see, because of all the fond memories I had in my college days on that campus."

Cates, a Republican from West Chester, said he spent about two years as a civil engineering student in Norris Hall, where most of Monday's killings occurred. "I knew that building like the back of my hand."

"I lost, on a personal level, a certain level of innocence. The innocence of my college days that will now be stained by this tragedy. But in a larger sense, we all lost part of our innocence yesterday, because what happened in Blacksburg, Va., could have happened on any campus in this country."

"I can't imagine what's it's like to go to the county morgue to identify your child," Cates said before apologizing for getting choked up.

"This is much larger than just what happened at Virginia Tech," Cates said. "This affected our national innocence. . . and some of the things we take for granted.".

Cates' entire floor speech can be watched here