The man who shot 32 people at Virginia Tech yesterday morning was identified by authorities as Cho Seung Hui. He is described as a 23-year-old student, a senior majoring in English, who lived in one of the dorms. He is also a legal resident from South Korea.
Additionally, ballistics from one of the guns retrieved at Norris Hall, where the second shooting of 30 students took place, matched ballistics evidence from the first shooting at a dormitory. (NBC News says that it appears he legally purchased the guns in the past few days -and it's legal for legal residents to buy guns.) The authorities are starting to release the names of victims, after they have been identified and next of kin have been notified.
More from the NY Times (also, look at this article about how media coverage of shootings has been sadly familiar), CNN, Roanoke Times and Washington Post. The Post spoke to Mets third baseman David Wright, whose brother attends VT, while the Daily News had an article about some of early known victims. Also, Rudy Giuliani canceled a trip to Virginia (he was scheduled to go to Pat Roberston's Regent University), and the Sun suggests the shooting "is expected to put an end to what had been seen as an unwillingness to fully address gun issues so far in the campaign."
And in the editorial roundup: The NY Times and Daily News urge for greater gun control laws, while the Post blames VT for not locking down the campus earlier and the Sun questions gun-on-campus laws.
Update: AOL's Newsbloggers have excerpts of plays written by Cho (pictured), which are angry and violent. An AOL employee, Ian McFarland, who supplied them writes, "When I first heard about the multiple shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday, my first thought was about my friends, and my second thought was 'I bet it was Seung Cho.'"
The NY Times has an article about Cho - described as a "loner" and very quiet - and interviews with his roommates. Additionally, his family was moved from their Virginia home (apparently a gun shell was found outside and reporters were also removed) and a Virginia gun shop says Cho bought a gun for $571 a month ago. South Korean officials released a statement conveying "deep condolences to victims, families and the American people" but also hoped the shooting, with no motive yet known, would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation.”
More updates from Virginia Tech's student newspaper, Collegiate Times, and here's a timeline of events from MSNBC.
Photograph of student signing a memorial by Chuck Burton/AP
