Va. killer accused of stalking
Cho was accused of stalking 2 women, was taken to mental
health facility
MSNBC and NBC News
Updated: 10:44 a.m. ET April 18, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The gunman involved in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history had previously been accused of stalking two female student and had been taken to a mental health facility in 2005, but no charges were filed, police said Wednesday.
Cho Seung-Hui worried one woman enough with his calls and e-mail in 2005 that police were called in, said Police Chief Wendell Flinchum.
He said the woman declined to press charges and Cho was referred to the university disciplinary system. The case was then outside the scope of the police department, he said.
In a separate incident, the department received a call from Cho’s parents who were concerned that he might be suicidal and he was taken to mental health facility, Flinchum said.
Cho's roommates and professors described on Wednesday a troubled, quiet young man who rarely spoke to his roommates or made eye contact with them. Roommates Joseph Aust and Karan Grewal said his bizarre behavior became even less predictable in recent weeks.
Cho started waking up as early as 5:30 a.m. instead of his usual 7 a.m., Aust, told ABC's "Good Morning America."
"I tried to make conversation with him earlier in the year when he moved in," Aust said. "He would just give one-word answers and stay quiet. He pretty much never looked me in the eye."
Fresh scare
Students still on edge after the deadliest shooting in U.S. history got another scare Wednesday morning as police in SWAT gear with weapons drawn swarmed Burruss Hall, which houses the president's office.
The threat of suspicious activity turned out to be unfounded, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said, and the building was reopened. But students were rattled.
“They were just screaming, 'Get off the sidewalks,"' said Terryn Wingler-Petty, a junior from Wisconsin. "They seemed very confused about what was going on. They were just trying to get people organized."
One officer was seen escorting a crying young woman out, telling her, "It's OK. It's OK."
A sullen, 'isolated kind of person'
Meantime, news reports said that Cho, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English, may have been taking medication for depression.
Writings for his English degree were reportedly dominated by disillusioned, violent characters.
“I felt he was a very lonely, isolated kind of person the whole time,” Lucinda Roy, an English professor who taught Cho, told CNN on Tuesday. “He would always wear sunglasses even inside, and a cap.”
Cho, who immigrated to the United States 15 years ago and was raised in suburban Washington, D.C., was found with the words “Ismael Ax” written in red ink on one of his arms, the Post reported law enforcement sources as saying. It was unclear what the words meant.
Cho used two handguns, which police confirmed he had purchased legally, and stopped only to reload. Police have stopped short of saying he was responsible for the shooting deaths of two other people two hours earlier at a dormitory but said tests showed the same gun was used in both incidents.
In addition to the 33 people confirmed dead, including the gunman, nine students remained in hospitals in stable condition Tuesday, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson reported.
Investigation of response
With many students still angry about the university’s failure to shut down the campus after the first shooting, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was working to appoint a team of independent officials to examine the response.
The two-hour delay in warning students might have occurred because authorities were initially focused on the boyfriend of one of the first shooting victims, The New York Times reported.
Neighbors, roommates and teachers described Cho as a withdrawn person who rarely talked to anyone. Two students who said they were Cho’s roommates said he had harassed several female students and once told them he wanted to kill himself, which prompted the roommates to report concerns about him to the police.
The massacre has revived the debate over U.S. gun control laws, which are the most lenient in the Western world. But it appeared unlikely the shooting would lead to stricter laws or have much impact on the 2008 presidential race because most leading candidates already favor gun controls and are unlikely to gain by pushing the issue.
ABC News reported that one of the guns, a 9mm Glock, and ammunition were purchased on March 13 for $571 from a gun shop about 30 miles from the Virginia Tech campus.
President Bush, in an interview on NBC on Tuesday, refused to answer questions on the gun control issue.
“Now is not the time,” he said. “I’m more interested in helping people heal right now. And that’s why we’re here.”
Candlelight vigil
Parents ignored administrators’ requests to stay away for now and flooded into Blacksburg to be with their children, NBC News’ Don Teague reported. Every hotel room within miles of the campus was booked Tuesday.
On Tuesday night, thousands of Virginia Tech students, faculty and area residents poured into the center of campus to grieve together. Volunteers passed out thousands of candles in paper cups, donated from around the country. Then, as the flames flickered, speakers urged them to find solace in one another.
“We will move on from this. But it will take the strength of each other to do that,” said Zenobia Hikes, vice president for student affairs. “We want the world to know we are Virginia Tech, we will recover, we will survive with your prayers.”
As silence spread across the grassy bowl of the drill field, a pair of trumpets began to play taps. A few in the crowd began to sing Amazing Grace.
Afterward, students, some weeping, others holding each other for support, gathered around makeshift memorials, filling banners and plywood boards with messages belying their pain.
“Our hearts will be heavy, our tears will fall and our questions never really answered,” one wrote.
“I think this is something that will take a while. It still hasn’t hit a lot of people yet,” said Amber McGee, a freshman from Wytheville, Va.
As this campus takes stock of the tragedy, it will be forced to confront the thinking that drove Cho’s rage.
'Shock and grief' in South Korea
Meanwhile, South Korea expressed shame over one of its citizens being identified as the gunman, and President Roh Moo-hyun held a special meeting Wednesday with aides to discuss the shooting.
“I and our people cannot contain our feelings of huge shock and grief,” said Roh during a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. “I pray for the souls of those killed and offer words of comfort from my heart for those injured, the bereaved families and the U.S. people.”
It was the third time that Roh has offered condolences since Tuesday.
The case topped the front pages of nearly all South Korean newspapers Wednesday, which also voiced worries that the incident may trigger racial hatred in the U.S. and worsen relations between the strong allies.
Family emigrated for a better life
South Korea’s largest newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that Cho’s family was poor when they lived in a Seoul suburb and decided to emigrate to seek a better life.
The family lived in a rented, basement apartment — usually the cheapest unit in a multi-apartment building, the newspaper reported quoting building owner Lim Bong-ae, 67. Police identified the shooter’s father as Cho Seong-tae, 61.
“I didn’t know what (Cho’s father) did for a living. But they lived a poor life,” Lim told the newspaper. “While emigrating, (Cho’s father) said they were going to America because it is difficult to live here and that it’s better to live in a place where he is unknown.”
The small apartment where the family lived is now vacant and its front door was left unlocked Wednesday. Mildew stains mark the pale blue walls of the three-room residence, which is no larger than 430 square feet.
At the Shinchang Elementary School that Cho attended for first grade and half of second grade, there were no records of the former student besides that he left school Aug. 19, 1992, officials said. Cho’s former homeroom teacher was no longer working at the school and other teachers did not remember Cho.
© 2007 MSNBC InteractiveThe Associated Press, Reuters, NBC News' Don Teague, and Tucker Carlson of MSNBC-TV contributed to this report.
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