US campus killer a 'loner'

2007-04-17 17:15

Blacksburg, Virginia - The deadliest school shooting in US history was carried out by a 23-year-old "loner" from South Korea who was studying for an English major, said university and police officials on Tuesday.

Police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a legal US resident, as the shooter at Virginia Tech University and said he may have acted alone in killing 32 people before committing suicide on Monday.

Cho was an undergraduate in his senior year majoring in English, said campus police chief Wendell Flinchum.

He lived on campus at Harper Hall dormitory and his residence was established in Centreville, Virginia outside Washington.

"He was a 23-year-old South Korean here in the US as a resident alien," said Flinchum.

Virginia Tech University Charles Steger told ABC television earlier that two people may have been involved in the shooting, but police later said it was "reasonable" to assume that Cho acted alone.

'Difficult' to find information

Larry Hincker, associate vice-president for university relations, said officials had difficulty getting information about the gunman.

"He was a loner and we had difficulty finding information about him," he said.

Two bouts of shootings rocked the university in the town of Blacksburg early on Monday morning.

Two people were shot dead in an initial shooting in a campus dormitory on Monday at 07:15 and another 30 were killed in a rampage more than two hours later. Up to 30 others were wounded.

Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia state police, said a 9mm handgun and a 22mm handgun had been recovered.

Flaherty said ballistics tests indicated one of the weapons was used in both shootings but declined to say if Cho had carried them both out.

'Almost like a boy scout'

"It certainly is reasonable for us to assume that Cho was the shooter in both places, but we don't have the evidence to take us there at this particular point in time," he said.

Student Erin Sheehan, who survived after the gunman barged into her German class and fired repeatedly, told CNN the attacker was of Asian appearance, wearing a short-sleeved tan shirt and black ammunition vest.

He was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout," she said. "He was very silent" as he carried out the attack.

"He seemed very thorough about it, getting almost everyone down. I was trying to act dead," she said.

"He left for about 30 seconds, came back in, did almost exactly the same thing."

About 2 000 foreign students

Local television in this town 425km southwest of Washington said foreign exchange students had been among the dead and this caused a delay in the release of details while relatives were notified.

The university lists about 2 000 international students, which include about 1 800 students of Asian origin in the current academic year.

The South Korean Yonhap news agency said a South Korean student was among those hospitalised. There are about 460 students from Korea studying at Virginia Tech, it said.

- AFP