USA: Police confirm gunman at Virginia Tech sent photographs and writings to US TV network NBC

The network turned over the material, which arrived on Wednesday (April 18) and included video, photographs and a multi-page statement, to the FBI. Virginia Police Superintendent Steve Flaherty said the development could be a "very critical component of this investigation." The new details added to an already chilling portrait of Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student from South Korea who massacred 32 people and then took his own life on Monday in the bloodiest shooting spree in modern U.S. history. In the latest bizarre twist, NBC said the material appeared to have been sent sometime between Cho's killing of two people in a dormitory and his attack two hours later on a classroom building where he cut down 30 more people. NBC officials would not disclose the contents of the material pending the FBI's review, except to say it was "disturbing." The dispatch of the package to NBC was confirmed by Flaherty, who told reporters: "Earlier today NBC News in New York received correspondence that we believe was from Cho." The disclosure followed word from university police that Cho had been accused of stalking women students and was taken to a psychiatric hospital in 2005 because of worries he was suicidal. Still grieving for the victims, students and teachers have described a sullen loner whose creative writings for his English literature degree were so laced with violence and venom that they alarmed some of those around him.

ITN Source | April 20, 2007

Tags:. .history. .building. .believe. .april. .wednesday