The Shooter: Cho Seung Hui - Troubled

Update: 2:24 p.m. (Revised)

Source: NBC4

Officials have identified the gunman in the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus.He has been identified as Cho Seung Hui. He was enrolled as an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at Virginia Tech. Cho, 23, a South Korean native, was in the United States as a resident alien with a residence in Centerville, Va.
Cho, a South Korean immigrant who had been in the United States since 1992, held a green card signifying his status as a legal permanent U.S. resident, federal officials said Tuesday. He attended Westfield High School, according to NBC News' Pete Williams.
Immigration records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security show that Cho was born in South Korea on January 18, 1984 and entered the United States through Detroit on September 2, 1992. He had last renewed his green card on October 27, 2003.
University officials said he lived in a dormitory on the Virginia Tech campus, but could shed no light on a motive for the shooting spree that left 33 dead. "He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," said Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker.
The English major's creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service, officials said. Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university's English department, said she did not personally know the gunman. But she said she spoke with Lucinda Roy, the department's director of creative writing, who had Cho in one of her classes and described him as "troubled."
"There was some concern about him," Rude said. "Sometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it's creative or if they're describing things, if they're imagining things or just how real it might be. But we're all alert to not ignore things like this." She said Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was. Rude refused to release any of his writings or his grades, citing privacy laws.
The gunman's family lived in an off-white, two-story town house in Centreville. "He was very quiet, always by himself," neighbor Abdul Shash said of the gunman. Shash said the gunman spent a lot of his free time playing basketball, and wouldn't respond if someone greeted him. He described the family as quiet. Marshall Main, who lives across the street, said the family had lived in the townhouse for several years.
According to court records, Virginia Tech Police issued a speeding ticket to Cho on April 7 for going 44 mph in a 25 mph zone, and he had a court date set for May 23.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences, and said South Korea hoped that the tragedy would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation."
"We are in shock beyond description," said Cho Byung-se, a ministry official handling North American affairs. "We convey deep condolences to victims, families and the American people."

Federal law enforcement officials are saying that Cho (his surname, not first name) left a note "railing" on "rich kids", "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans". They are going through his computer in hopes of finding more clues that will lead them to why Cho committed mass murder yesterday.

Partial List of Victims from Virginia Tech Massacre

Update: 8:50 a.m. (Revised 2:54pm)
The following is a partial list of victims killed by a gunman on the campus of Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007:

• Maxine Turner, Vienna, Va., Senior, Chemical Engineering
• Henry Lee, Roanoke, Va., Freshman, Computer Engineering
• Matt La Porte, Dumont, N.J., Freshman, University Studies [picture below]
• Jamie Bishop, Instructor, Foreign Languages and Literatures (German)
• G.V. Loganathan, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Juan Ortiz, Graduate Student, Civil Engineering
• Jarrett Lane, Narrows, Va., Senior, Civil Engineering
• Ryan Clark, Columbia County, Ga., Senior, Biology, English, Psychology (West AJ)
• Leslie Sherman, Sophomore, History and International Studies
• Caitlin Hammaren, Sophomore, International Studies and French
• Liviu Librescu, Professor, Engineering Science & Mechanics
• Kevin Granata, Professor, Engineering Science & Mechanics
• Reema Samaha, Centreville, Va., Freshman
• Emily Hilscher, Woodville, Va., Freshman, Animal & Poultry Sciences, Equine Science (West AJ) [picture below]
Ross Alameddine, Student, Saugus, Mass.
Daniel Cueva, Student, Peru, International Relations
Mary Read, Student, Annandale, Va. [picture at top]

I have included links to the MySpace pages of some of the victims. CNN has more pictures and short bios of a few of the victims.

Emily Hilscher was apparently the first person shot. She was not killed instantly, but died a short time later. It is presumed that she was either the girlfriend of the shooter OR a love-interest of his.

Sources:
FOX News
CNN
MySpace
DelawareOnline

Virginia Tech Massacre: Gunman a Student

Update: 8:29 a.m. (Revised)
Overnight we have learned that the 23 year old Asian gunman was actually a college student at Virginia Tech. From the wording of reporting related to the executed warrant on his "room", it is also apparent that he was living in a dorm, not off campus. This may answer my earlier question as to why no one had focused on the perp's vehicle.
WSLS reports:

"The president of Virginia Tech says the shooter in yesterday's rampage was a student at the university. Charles Steger said the shooter in the second shooting at Norris Hall was Asian and lived in a dorm on the Blacksburg campus. Steger told ABC News that he expects that investigators will get a ballistics report this morning, and he said they will 'be making it public as soon as we can.'
Steger added News that the shooter may have been locked in West Ambler Johnston dormitory when the building was locked down after the first shooting. He says the 'investigation is unfolding as we speak.'"

I wonder why Chief Flinchum repeatedly said that the gunman was not a student at VTech.

Virginia Tech Massacre: Who Is To Blame?

Update: 2:07 a.m.
The person to blame is the gunman (or gunmen). Human nature will make us want to blame someone. Since that animal is dead, many folks will seek someone else to blame. BUT, it's no one else's fault -- ONLY the gunman.
Don't fall prey to the inevitable pundits who today will most assuredly start to blame VT President Charles Steger, Campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum, the Blacksburg Police Department and possibly others.

Virginia Tech: Campus Massacre Update

In case you've been living under a rock for the last 24 hours... The worst mass murder in American history occurred yesterday morning between 7:15am ET and noon. Thirty-three people are dead after a gunman opened fire on faculty and students at Virginia Tech. Two people are dead at West Ambler Johnston dorm; Thirty more were murdered (some execution style) across campus at Norris Hall; and the gunman shot himself in the head, dying immediately.

Geraldo Rivera (FOX News) says local LE say the Facebook.com page mentioned earlier is NOT that of massacre gunman. They say the person shown on the page is not the person who was found dead (by suicide) in Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus.
Megyn Kelly (FOX News) used information from Facebook to try and track down information on the individual from the college students' social networking website. Her staff actually went out and tried to find the person shown on Facebook.com. They were unable to find him at two addresses in the Blacksburg, VA area. However, they gained no leads that this person was the gunman.
In fact, Wayne Chiang, owner of the Facebook webpage has gone public to "clear my [his] name". Chiang realizes his Facebook page is suspicious, but insists he is not a person of interest, nor the gunman. "It was five for five. I was Asian, I lived in (the dorm), I go to V Tech, I recently broke up with my girlfriend and I collect guns," says Chiang, who initially contacted ABC affiliate KNXV. Law enforcement officials confirm that Mr. Chiang is NOT a suspect, nor do they think he is related to the crimes that took place yesterday morning at VTech.

NOTE: Law enforcement and others are still working to find out whether or not the two crime scenes from yesterday morning are related. VTech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum has implied that there may be evidence that TWO different situations are at play -- and that the two shooting scenes were not perpetrated by the same individual.

Chinese National Named VTech Massacre Killer

Update: 11:45 p.m. (Revised)
The gunman apparently brought the chains used to lock doors in Norris Hall on campus with him. He was a 20-something, six foot tall, Chinese man toting a 9mm handgun with at least one high capacity clip, along with a .22 caliber pistol. It is also now known that the shooter brought additional ammunition with him -- as noted by multiple student witnesses.
At least two people (Chief Flinchum and a Sun Times reporter) now say they have the name of this person, but will not yet release it to the public. The man, who was reportedly NOT a VTech student, was in the US on an F1 visa (aka student visa).
Federal authorities are saying that they still cannot definitively tie the West AJ murders to the Norris Hall massacre. I'm starting to believe, more and more, that the two scenes are unrelated. However, the facts are easy enough to establish. a) Did the murdered girl in West AJ know the Chinese man at Norris Hall? b) Who did witnesses see in the dorm? c) Who is the person of interest the Blacksburg police talked to this morning? d) Can he be quickly linked to either the Chinese gunman at Norris or the young woman at West Ambler Johnston?

FOX News is reporting that the Chinese man has a page on Facebook.com. On his profile, there are pictures of him holding several weapons. We are NOT sure the Facebook.com person is the SAME PERSON who massacred 30+ people today. However, if the profile does show the shooter, the situation is even more disturbing.

The College Columbine: Virginia Tech's "Person of Interest"

Update: 8:07 p.m.
The highlights of the 7:30pm ET press briefing are:

• Virginia Tech Campus Police Chief Wendell Flinchum has preliminary ID of gunman, but are not releasing the name.
• Recovered two weapons, but won't release the details
• ATF is comparing ballistics from West AJ and Norris Hall
• Person of interest ID'd after shooting at West Ambler Johnston. That person is not in custody. He is not known to police, according to Chief Flinchum.
• The first "person of interest" is still a person of interest -- "because he knows one of the victims" found dead in the dorm room.
• The "person of interest" is NOT a VT student
  
• The gunman found dead in Norris Hall is NOT the "person of interest" questioned in the West AJ dorm shooting.
• Murder /suicide has been ruled out at the incident in the dorm
• Chief Flinchum states that the Blacksburg Police Dept. located the "person of interest" in the dorm shooting -- and conducted an interview with him about the same time as the shootings were taking place in Norris Hall
• From the above statements, we can conclude that the police think that the shootings in West AJ are NOT related to the shootings in Norris Hall
  

Virginia Tech Massacre: The Investigation

Update: 6:00 p.m.

CollegiateMedia reports: Erin Sheehan was one of four people able to walk out of her 9:05 German class in room 207 Norris Hall. "It's a small class, about 25 people," she said. "And I would say no more than 2 people didn't show up, were absent. And of those of us that were in there today, only four of us walked out of that room, but two of us had been injured during the shooting," Sheehan said.
"It seemed so strange," Sheehan said. "Because he peaked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, somebody, before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls, and someone thought they sounded like bullets. That's when we blockaded the door to stop anyone from coming in."
"He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit. He wore a tan button up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something."
"I saw bullets hit people's body," Sheehan said. "There was blood everywhere. People in the class were passed out, I don't know maybe from shock from the pain. But I was one of only four that made it out of that classroom. The rest were dead or injured." She described.

I'm sure Virginia Tech police, along with FBI, ATF and other agencies, are investigating every aspect of the campus massacre that occurred earlier today.

• One thing they should be looking for is the gunman's car. Since it has been reported that he entered Norris Hall with two long guns and two handguns, it's more than obvious he didn't walk to campus. He had to have driven a private vehicle. Where is it and what kind of evidence does it hold?
• Since at least one of the first two victims were likely known to the gunman, police should be tracing back friends and romantic acquaintances of the female resident of the West AJ dorm.
• There is also certainly a definite link between the person living in West Ambler Johnston dorm and classrooms 205/206 on the second floor of Norris Hall.
• Another idea is that the shooter may have been a student. If so, he may have been known to some of the people who were shot in Norris Hall. Hopefully, some of them will be able to identify him by name.
• Of course, the weapons should be traceable back to where it was sold -- and possibly to the owner. By the way he was dressed and armed, it can be concluded that he intended to murder many people -- and possibly shoot it out with law enforcement.
• LE needs to look into last week's bomb threats -- to see if they are related to what happened earlier today.
  

My guess is that we will have the name of the shooter by tomorrow morning -- either officially or unofficially.

Regarding the West AJ crime scene: Before assuming that both this incident and the Norris Hall scene were perpetrated by the same person, think about this scenario... A disgruntled boyfriend goes upstairs to the 4th floor of the West AJ dorm. He kills his girlfriend, then commits suicide. In that circumstance, the two incidents would most likely not be related at all.

Virginia Tech Massacre: News Conference Details

Update: 5:16 p.m.
Officials are holding their second major news conference of the day -- in relation to the murder of 32 students and faculty on the Virginia Tech University campus in Blacksburg, VA.

Here are the highlights:

• VT.edu is pretty much overwhelmed and not available.
• Virginia Tech has arranged for counseling for faculty, staff and students.
• Charles Steger, university president, spoke with President Bush within the last hour. He has also spoken with the Governor twice.

Confirmed details of the 48 dead and wounded:

• 31 deaths inside Norris Hall -- including gunman
• 15 other victims injured or wounded
  
• 2 confirmed dead in West Ambler Johnston -- in addition to 31 @ Norris Hall (one female victim / one male victim)
• West AJ was closed immediately, but the rest of campus was not locked down because police thought incident was isolated and that shooter had left the dorm
  
• Gunman carried NO identification, so law enforcement have not identified him
• Students must have "swipe card" in order to enter dorms during early morning hours
  
• Anticipate being able to release list of those who were killed or injured by tomorrow
• Don't know if shooter was a student or not
• One gunman deceased, but police DON'T know if two incidents were related
• Second incident happened while police were investigating first incident.
• Norris Hall gunman committed suicide
• Suspect first shooting was domestic in nature -- both victims were found in a single West AJ dorm room (one female victim / one male victim)
  
• NO shootout between officers & gunman (despite video showing multiple law enforcement officers firing weapons towards campus buildings)
  
• Some Norris Hall doors were chained shut (from the inside) -- probably by gunman
• No one is in custody -- but active investigation is ongoing as to whether or not there are two gunmen
• Another news conference will be held tonight at around 7:00pm ET
  

Virginia Tech Scene of Deadliest University Shooting in US History

Update: 11:45 a.m.
A student who was making his way to classes on the Virginia Tech campus witnessed police grab a male who appeared to have been shot in the abdomen, place him in a police car and whisk him away from the scene. It was NOT clear to the student whether the person taken away was a victim or the shooter.
Reportedly, FBI agents are now on the scene as well.

Update: 11:21am - VT website

In addition to an earlier shooting today, in West Ambler Johnston, there has been a multiple shootings with multiple victims in Norris Hall. Police and EMS are on the scene. Police have one shooter in custody (according to the AP & The Collegiate Times) and as part of routine police procedure, they continue to search for a second shooter.
Sources on campus are reporting that there were two shooting incidents on campus — one that occurred between 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston Dorm (aka West AJ; near West End Market and Dietrick Dining Center), and another at 10 a.m. (believed to have taken place at Norris Hall). Officials told the AP there are seven to eight additional casualties. According to the VT website, "There will be an additional university statement presented today at noon."
There are VERY few OFFICIAL details at this time. We will know more when university authorities release their statement around noon today.

Update: 11:06 a.m.
The Associated Press is reporting there at least one person dead as a result of multiple shootings on the Virginia Tech campus this morning. Wounded have been removed from buildings. Tech student Steve Hanson was working in a lab in Norris Hall at 10:15 a.m. when he hears what he thought was loud banging from construction. Hanson was soon scrambling out of the building and he said he saw one person who was shot in the arm. At Pritchard Hall, a dormitory near one of the shooting sites, students were being pulled into the buildings and told to stay away from windows and off the phone.

Update: 10:36 a.m.
One death and one injury have been confirmed. Due to serious wind, helicopters cannot be used to transfer the injured. According to the police scanner, ambulances are being used to transport the victims to Montgomery Regional Hospital.

Updated: 10:17 a.m.
Multiple shootings have occurred at Virginia Tech this morning involving multiple victims. The second shooting happened in Norris Hall, the engineering building near Burruss Hall. Police are on the scene and rescue workers have set up a temporary treatment facility. The campus is on lock down. All classes and activities have been cancelled for the day.
Montgomery County public schools are all on lock down. In Blacksburg, no one is being allowed in any school building without approval by the school administrators, said Superintendent Tiffany Anderson.
The university has posted a notice of the incident on its Web site and is urging the university community to be cautious and contact Virginia Tech police at 231-6411 if they notice anything suspicious.

Last August, the VT campus was closed when an escaped jail inmate killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy involved in a massive manhunt. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

The Roanoke Times
FOXNews.com
The Collegiate Times
WSLS.com
ABC News
LiveLeak.com

The Roanoke Times (and the Previews, Newz and Reviews blog) will update
with new information as it become available.