Cho's stone gone from memorial
2007-04-23 16:24
Blacksburg, Virginia - A stone set out for Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui in a memorial for all 33 people who died in last week's shooting rampage disappeared overnight before classes at the traumatised campus resumed on Monday.
The two-kilogram granite block, one of 33 set out in a semi-circle and piled with flowers, letters and mementos was still part of the tribute at the campus centre late on Sunday, but had vanished by the time school reopened.
South Korean-born, US-raised Cho shot dead 27 fellow students and five lecturers before and during morning classes on April 16, forever branding this university in the south-western Virginia farm country as the site of the worst school shooting in US history.
The stone appeared earlier in the week at the memorial as the university struggled to come to grips with his bloody rampage.
Left behind on Monday in Cho's position at the memorial were a pile of wilting roses and carnations, burnt-down candles and days-old letters forgiving Cho and expressing sympathy with his family.
"Seung Hui, I hope that if I ever meet someone like you, I will have the courage and strength to reach out," said one signed David.
'You have not broken our spirits'
"We forgive you because we've been forgiven," offered a Christian who signed only MEQ.
"To the family of Cho Seung-Hui: We know that you are hurting too," said another.
But one letter to Cho, whose angry, hateful and violent pictures and statements that were shown on television after the massacre, was more defiant.
"Cho: you greatly underestimated our strength, courage and compassion. You may have broken our hearts but you have not broken our spirits," wrote a person who signed "Erin T".
Cho, whom professors and police had viewed as mentally disturbed, fatally shot himself at the end of the rampage, leaving behind a collection of menacing photos and videotaped diatribes.