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Campus killer's video 'crazy'
19/04/2007 11:41 - (SA)
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| This video frame grab image taken from a video aired by NBC News shows Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui (NBC, AP) |
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Blacksburg - Students expressed disgust and disbelief at photos and a rage-filled video diatribe sent to a television network by the gunman who massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech university.
Half-a-dozen Virginia Tech students gathered silently around a bank of televisions in the student centre late on Wednesday watching images of Cho Seung-Hui posing with his guns and video of him ranting against rich kids and debauchery.
The package received by NBC News on Wednesday carried a
postmark showing Cho mailed his rambling manifesto after he
killed his first two victims on Monday morning but before he
went on to cut down 30 more people in classrooms.
"That's crazy. He kills two people and then goes to the
post office and then he's ready for round two? It's creepy,"
said graduate student Nick Jeremiah, 34.
Different picture of killer
The images and long monologue suffused with paranoia and
feelings of persecution painted a different picture of Cho, a
23-year-old student who has been described by teachers and
other students as silent and withdrawn.
"He just goes on and on - that's got to be more than he's
spoken, ever," Jeremiah said. "I thought, 'well, he does
talk.'"
Devin Cornwall, 19, who watched the video in a dormitory
room with two friends, said the gunman's hatred for rich
children made no sense.
"To me, that doesn't personify any Tech student I know. I
always think of us as a blue-collar place," Cornwall said.
In the video and an 1 800-word document, Cho railed against
wealth and debauchery, portrayed himself as a defender of the
weak and voiced admiration for the 1999 Columbine High School
massacre.
"You have vandalised my heart, raped my soul and tortured
my conscience," said Cho, speaking directly to the camera and
occasionally looking down to read his message.
Going back to class
On the sprawling rural campus in southwestern Virginia,
students were beginning to look ahead to Monday, when classes
will resume.
"It's going to be weird being back in class. We're still
going to feel uneasy in big lecture halls, or crossing the
drill field," said industrial design student Phil Padilla, 20.
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