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BLACKSBURG, Virginia - US police pored over the writings of a student who massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech university as they searched on Wednesday for further clues to why he went on the worst shooting rampage in modern US history.
Cho Seung- Hui killed two people in a dormitory at 7.15am Tuesday (11.15pm Monday NZT), before shooting dead 30 others and himself in science hall two hours later.
A chilling portrait of the 23-year-old South Korean has emerged from accounts of fellow students and teachers and from writings for his English degree that were dominated by disillusioned, violent characters.
"I felt he was a very lonely, isolated kind of person the whole time," Lucinda Roy, an English professor who taught Cho, told CNN. "He would always wear sunglasses even inside, and a cap."
As students and teachers grieved, police said they were examining Cho's "considerable" writings for clues about what may have sparked Monday's rampage on the rural campus.
The Washington Post and other media quoted police sources as saying Cho left a note attacking what he called rich, spoiled students. The Post said his note was a "sort of a manifesto" and added: "It was just sort of against the world."
The note believed to have been written by Cho and found in his dorm room railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus, the Chicago Tribune said.
"You caused me to do this," ABC News quoted law enforcement sources as saying he wrote.
However, police said there was no suicide note.
The Smoking Gun website also reported that Cho wrote a "bizarre play" about a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of paedophilia and murdering his father. It ran what it said was the script of the play.
Gunman 'withdrawn'
Neighbours, roommates and teachers described Cho as a withdrawn person who rarely talked to anyone. Two students who said they were Cho's roommates said he had harassed several female students and once told them he wanted to kill himself, which prompted the roommates to report concerns about him to the police.
Cho, who immigrated to the United States 15 years ago and was raised in suburban Washington, DC, killed himself after opening fire in classrooms in a science building, where he apparently chained doors to prevent escape before cutting down 30 victims one by one.
The dead were found in at least four classrooms as well as a stairwell. The gunman was found sprawled among them.
He had the words "Ismael Ax" written in red ink on one of his arms, the Post reported law enforcement sources as saying. It was unclear what the words meant.
Cho used two handguns, which police confirmed he had purchased legally, and stopped only to reload. Police have stopped short of saying he was responsible for the shooting deaths of two other people two hours earlier at a dormitory but said tests showed the same gun was used in both incidents.
The massacre has revived the debate over US gun control laws, which are the most lenient in the Western world. But it appeared unlikely the shooting would lead to stricter laws or have much impact on the 2008 presidential race because most leading candidates already favour gun controls and are unlikely to gain by pushing the issue.
ABC News reported that one of the guns, a 9mm Glock, and ammunition were purchased on March 13 for $571 from a gun shop about 50km from the Virginia Tech campus.
Gun control debate
President George W Bush, in an interview on NBC on Tuesday, refused to answer questions on the gun control issue.
"Now is not the time," he said. "I'm more interested in helping people heal right now. And that's why we're here."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino acknowledged that "there is going to be and there has been an ongoing national discussion and debate about gun control policy." But she said the focus now was on families, the school and the community.
Earlier, President Bush spoke at a memorial service for the victims of the shooting.
"It was the worst day of violence on a college campus in American history and for many of you here it was the worst day of your lives," Bush told a crowd at the university's basketball arena where many students wore maroon and orange, the school's colours.
The 10,000-seat Cassell Coliseum was filled to capacity.
"Those whose lives who were taken did nothing to deserve their fate. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Bush said as victims' family members sobbed and comforted each other.
Twelve students remained hospitalised in stable condition, officials said.
The campus, where there are more than 25,000 full-time students, reeled with shock and grief.
"I don't even know if any of my friends were killed, because it was so hard to get in touch with anyone last night," said Brittany Jones, a 19-year-old Tech student from Urbanna, Virginia.
Rattled nerves
The shooting rattled nerves elsewhere.
A bomb threat caused St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas to cancel all classes and evacuate students and staff.
Television images of terrified students and police dragging out bloody victims revived memories of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.
"There were leg, arm, head, face (injuries), the more critical ones actually had head or facial shots ... He was just shooting to kill," said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo, an emergency room physician who treated the wounded.
Many students expressed anger that they were not warned of any danger until more than two hours after the first attack at a dormitory -- and then only in an email from the university.
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine said later he was working to appoint a team of independent officials to examine the response.
- REUTERS, NZHERALD STAFF
