Archive: April 15, 2007 - April 21, 2007
NBC News Airs Video, Images From Cho
NBC just aired video and images sent to the news organization by Cho Seung Hui, the Va. Tech gunman, after the first shooting at a campus dormitory, and before the killing of 30 people at an academic building. "You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today,"...
By Liz Heron | April 18, 2007; 6:40 PM ET | Comments (6)
April 16, 2007: A Detailed Reconstruction
"April 16, 2007. In the Monday morning darkness, another school week at Virginia Tech was about to dawn. Cho Seung Hui pulled a stocking cap over his head, and set out from his dorm on his way to kill 32 students and teachers and then himself in the bloodiest mass...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 18, 2007; 6:00 PM ET | Comments (15)
NBC Says It Received Mail From Cho
The big news to break just now out of the latest Virginia Tech press conference is that NBC News has turned over to law enforcement a communication it received from Cho Seung Hui, the student who killed 32 people and himself on Monday. NBC News said it received "a long...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 18, 2007; 5:26 PM ET | Comments (13)
Gov. Kaine Designates Friday as Day of Mourning
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) today declared Friday, April 20, 2007, a statewide day of mourning for the victims of Monday's tragedy at Virginia Tech. "On Friday, Governor Kaine will participate in an interfaith prayer service in Monroe Park on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He has...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 18, 2007; 4:38 PM ET | Email a Comment
University of Minn. Evacuated After Bomb Threat
A bomb threat has prompted the evacuation of seven buildings at the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus, according to the Associated Press. The incident is the latest in a string of of perceived threats that have rattled universities around the country in the wake of the Va. Tech shootings. The...
By Liz Heron | April 18, 2007; 3:54 PM ET | Comments (1)
Police Seek Gunman's Medical Records
The Associated Press and other news outlets are reporting that law enforcement officials are trying to obtain copies of Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung Hui's medical records. The Post's Jerry Markon reports that authorities were searching a mental health facility in Blacksburg where Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung Hui was...
By Liz Heron | April 18, 2007; 3:14 PM ET | Comments (6)
Three Vigils Planned in N. Virginia Tonight
At least three vigils for victims of the Virginia Tech shootings are scheduled in the Northern Virginia region today. 7:30 p.m.: Virginia Tech in the National Capital Region holds a public candlelight vigil. Alexandria City Hall, 301 King St., Alexandria, Va. 7:30 p.m.: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 18, 2007; 3:05 PM ET | Comments (1)
Five More Victims Named
The Post's Paul Duggan has learned that Waleed Shaalan, 32, an Egyptian national, is among the dead, according to The Egyptian Embassy. Shaalan was studying for doctoral degree in engineering at Virginia Tech. The Associated Press has named four additional victims: Matthew G. Gwaltney, 24, of Chester, Va., a graduate...
By Karl Eisenhower | April 18, 2007; 12:47 PM ET | Comments (1)
Va. Tech: Campus Police Had Contact With Cho in 2005
The Post's Debbi Wilgoren has filed an update based on the news from this morning's press conference at Virginia Tech: Police: Cho Questioned in 2005 After Students Complained "The 23-year-old Centreville man who killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech Monday was questioned by campus police twice in...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 18, 2007; 10:52 AM ET | Comments (2)
Korean Paper Reports on Cho's Family Background
The Associated Press, summarizing a report in a South Korean newspaper, reported that the "family of the gunman in the Virginia Tech shootings struggled while living in South Korea and emigrated to the U.S. to seek a better life, a newspaper reported Wednesday. ... "South Korea's largest newspaper Chosun Ilbo...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | April 18, 2007; 10:03 AM ET | Email a Comment
Kaine Names Former State Police Superintendent to Lead Probe
The Virginia governor has asked former state police superintendent Gerald Massengill to lead the independent review of law enforcement's response to Monday's shooting and Virginia Tech's handling of the troubled student. "We've got to get all the answers to these questions," Kaine said this morning on CNN. "The individual circumstances...
By Karl Eisenhower | April 18, 2007; 8:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Police Searched Home of Victim's Boyfriend
Washington Post reporters have learned that police searched the home of a college student identified as the boyfriend of the young woman killed by mass murderer Cho Seung Hui. In an affidavit, police revealed that they looked in the home of Karl David Thornhill for "firearms, ammunition, bloody clothing" and...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 9:47 PM ET | Comments (2)
Va. Tech Community Mourns at Candlelight Vigil
Thousands of Virginia Tech students, faculty and area residents poured into the center of campus to grieve together as darkness fell tonight. The vigil came as details continue to emerge about the victims of the massacre that left 33 people dead, including the shooter, 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui. Mourners held thousands...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 8:10 PM ET | Email a Comment
Kaine to Conduct Full 'After-Action' Review
By Michael D. Shear and William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writers Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) pledged today to form an independent "assessment team" of law enforcement experts to carry out a thorough "after-action review" of yesterday's Virginia Tech shootings and authorities' response to them. In a news conference...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 7:31 PM ET | Email a Comment
"I Want the Hokies to Bounce Back"
Monday's frigid cold gave way to blue skies and warmer temperatures across Blacksburg today, as parents converged on campus to collect their sons and daughters and other students opted to stay behind. "There is a lot of people on the campus right now, but there's definitely a tension and an...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 5:30 PM ET | Email a Comment
Dormmate: Cho Was Distant, Seemed Shy
Karan Grewal, one of Cho's suitemates in Harper Hall, told Washington Post reporter William Wan that on the morning of the shooting Cho looked like he had every other day: His face was blank, expressionless. "He didn't have a look of disgust or anger," Grewal said. "He never did, there...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 5:11 PM ET | Comments (49)
IRS Gives Reprieve to Shooting Victims
The Associated Press reports that those affected by the Virginia Tech shootings will get an extra six months to file and pay their federal taxes, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday. The IRS said the extension until Oct. 15 applies to victims, their families, emergency responders and university students and...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 5:08 PM ET | Email a Comment
Web Sites Post Plays Purportedly Written by Gunman
AOL News has posted two plays a classmate said were written by Va. Tech gunman Cho Seung Hui, who was majoring in English at the university. The plays were provided to AOL by Ian MacFarlane, Cho's former classmate and current AOL employee. The Smoking Gun web site also posted one...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 4:36 PM ET | Comments (16)
Bush Expresses Sorrow at Va. Tech Memorial Service
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Representing America's anguish, President Bush said Tuesday that he prays for comfort for those victimized by the "dark turn" of the day at Virginia Tech that turned into the nation's deadliest shooting spree. "Laura and I have come to Blacksburg today with hearts full of sorrow,"...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 3:38 PM ET | Comments (8)
Authorities Probe Potential Connection Between Shootings, Bomb Threats
Investigators found a note left in the shooter's dorm room, said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. "It's sort of a manifesto" said the source, who described the note as a rambling and somewhat incoherent list of grievances. Among the people that Cho attacked in the note were...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 3:04 PM ET | Email a Comment
AP: Gunman's Writings Raised Concerns
The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as an English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service, according to an Associated Press report. News reports also said that he may...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 2:15 PM ET | Email a Comment
AP: Shooter Left a Suicide Note
The gunman who opened fire at Virginia Tech University yesterday left a note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances, according to an Associated Press report citing the Chicago Tribune. The AP story also quoted law enforcement sources interviewed by ABC News who said the note...
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 1:46 PM ET | Email a Comment
Bomb Scares Rattle Three Universities
Campus threats forced lock-downs and evacuations at universities in Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee on Tuesday, a day after a Virginia Tech student's shooting rampage killed 33 people, according to an Associated Press report....
By Liz Heron | April 17, 2007; 1:31 PM ET | Email a Comment
Gunman Identified as Centreville Resident
By the end of this morning's news conference at Virginia Tech, officials had released the name of the gunman in Monday's deadly campus shootings, but not much else. Within moments, Virginia Tech's Web site confirmed what campus police chief Wendell Flinchum had announced: The gunman was Cho Seung Hui, a...
By Bob Greiner | April 17, 2007; 10:21 AM ET | Email a Comment
'A Gunman Is Loose on Campus'
The sign outside Ambler Johnston Hall glowed bright Monday night, offering no indication of the deadly shooting that occurred there more than 12 hours before. A five-minute walk away in nearby Peddrew-Yates Hall, Virginia Tech freshman Laura Mandeville walked up three flights of stairs to her dorm suite, cheeks stained...
By Bob Greiner | April 17, 2007; 7:32 AM ET | Email a Comment
