Webloggin » Korean Born Va. Tech Shooter Was Dorm Resident, Serial Numbers Removed From Guns

Video Update: Police have identified the shooter as Seung Hui Cho, a permanent resident of the United States.

Police and University officials haven’t yet released the name of the Virgina Tech shooter but they have indicated that he lived in a campus dormitory and was of Korean descent as opposed to a Chinese National indicated in earlier reports.

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 17 — Virginia Tech president Charles W. Steger said today that the gunman who rampaged through the campus on Monday leaving 32 dead was a student who lived in one of the school’s dormitories.

The name of the assailant has not been publicly released, but Steger, in an interview on CNN, said he was an Asian male who was “a resident in one of our dormitories.”

A range of sources, including federal and local officials with knowledge of the case, have told the Washington Post that the assailant was of Korean descent. His parents live in Fairfax County, one official there said.- Washington Post

They are still sending conflicting messages as to whether or not there were two separate shootings by multiple shooters as originally reported or if the two incidents were related. It appears to me that the two shootings were likely by the same man and that the University is seeking to clarify why they didn’t evacuate the campus after the first incident. It was a colossal mistake that in retrospect turned tragically fatal.

Though law enforcement officials said it appears the same man was responsible for both, Steger said that remains unclear. The belief that the first shooting, in the dorm, was a “domestic incident” led university officials to assume the incident was confined to that building.

“We thought we had it under control,” Steger said. “I don’t think anyone could have predicted,” what happened next. – Washington Post

However, university President Steger later made the following comment that seems to indicate that they now believe the two shootings were done by the same man.

“It was characterized as being confined to that dormitory. We thought we had it under control. I don’t think anyone could have predicted,” that two hours later a gunman would attack across campus, inside the Norris Hall engineering building, Steger told CNN. – Washington Post

In related events officials have indicated that the guns had the serial numbers removed. This seems to indicate that either the guns were obtained illegally or that the shooter carried out the days events in a premeditated fashion and wanted to cover his tracks. If the second scenario is true then all kinds of questions remain, why did he remove the serial numbers, what tracks were trying to be covered up and was anyone else involved? All questions that need some answers and will hopefully be clarified in today’s press conference.

Witnesses described the shooter as calm and calculated.

The shooter, whose name was not released last night, wore bluejeans, a blue jacket and a vest holding ammunition, witnesses said. He carried a 9mm semiautomatic and a .22-caliber handgun, both with the serial numbers obliterated, federal law enforcement officials said. Witnesses described him as a silent killer who was calm and showed no expression as he pursued and shot his victims. He killed himself as police closed in.

He had left two dead at the dormitory and 30 more at a science and engineering building, where he executed people taking and teaching classes after chaining some doors shut behind him. At one point, he shot at a custodian who was helping a victim. Witnesses described scenes of chaos and grief, with students jumping from second-story windows to escape gunfire and others blocking their classroom doors to keep the gunman away.

I will update this story as information comes out.

Update I: Bryan at Hot Air is reporting that a gun shop owner claims to have sold the guns to Mr. Cho, an name of Korean descent according to comments in the thread. Although they are quick to indicate that this information could be a hoax it appears that the release of the mans nationality and the claimed name gel. If true the guns are being reported as a Glock 19 and a Walther P-22.

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