Gunman ID’d in Va. Tech killings

2:09 p.m.

BLACKSBURG, Va. — School officials and police yesterday confirmed that the gunman in yesterday’s massacre at Virginia Tech was senior Cho Seung-Hui, a resident alien and English major.

“The only thing we know about him is he was a loner,” university spokesman Larry Hincker said. “They were trying to find information about him.”

Cho, a 23-year-old South Korean national, gunned down 30 persons Monday before shooting himself in the head in the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.

Two students were shot to death in a dormitory earlier Monday, but investigators could not say yesterday whether Cho, who has a residence in Centreville and graduated from Westfield High School in 2003, is responsible for both incidents.

Cho lived in the university’s Harper Residence Hall, officials said.

State, local and federal investigators worked around the clock last night collecting and processing evidence from Norris Hall, where 30 victims including students faculty — were found dead in four second-floor classrooms and a stairwell, officials said.

Investigators found a 9 mm handgun and 22-caliber handgun in Norris Hall, Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.

Ballistics tests conducted at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lab in Ammendale found that one of the weapons was used in Monday’s first shooting in West Ambler Johnston Hall, where two students were killed, Chief Flinchum said.

“Lab results confirmed that one of the weapons seized in Norris Hall was used in both shootings,” he said.

Col. Stephen Flaherty, Virginia State Police superintendent, said that doesn’t mean Cho is responsible for both shootings.

“Evidence has not led us to believe that we can say, with all certainty, that the same shooter was involved in all incidents,” Col. Flaherty said. “We also have no evidence to indicate that there is any accomplice at any event,” but investigators are exploring that possibility.

Processing the “horrific crime scene” will take some time, he said.

Cho was found with a backpack containing a receipt for a Glock 9mm pistol that he had bought in March.

His fingerprints were found on the two handguns used in both shootings, said two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been announced. The serial numbers on the two weapons had been filed off, the officials said.

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