MAJOR Shooting at Virginia Campus...

[alwaysAMC]

I agree with you.

This is not about politics. I'd hope our President, whether he is liked or not, would pay his respects and address the United States. He is praying for the victim's and their families just as we are all doing.

Sad day in US history RIP all 32 victims.

[SpiritualJunkie]

I can't believe it. 32 dead?? I heard this on the radio this morning and heard the casualty count was 21...that's like a whole classroom of people!

This whole thing is about a lot of things...you better believe that people will start discussing things from gun control to school security, from domestic violence to military spending.

[Scotty]

Yep the guy killed 32 people, and then shot and killed himself.....for a total of 33 dead. And dozens others wounded.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

The question some are asking over and over again on my television news stations is: "Why wasn't something done when he went to the dorm and shot the first two people?" That's going to be the one thing that folks will be asking over and over again. Why wasn't something done before it got to this proportion?

The whole thing sends chills up my spine. I still can't understand to this day what goes through the mind of those that go out and take away someone's life.

[Kylie]

I just talked a good friend of mine who goes to UVA, and let me tell you, the grace of God is amazing sometimes. Some people she knows from VT are alive because of things we take forgranted everyday. She's utterly terrified to go to classes tomorrow and I don't blame her. I'm scared to go to school, and I'm on the opposite side of the country.

I think that question of why wasn't the school locked down after the first shootings, is going to haunt the staff and police there forever. I mean, I hate lockdowns as much as the next...but I see no reason why they wouldn't have or cancelled classes, something. It just doesn't seem right to have kept things...normal. They weren't nomral. If someone who doesn't live in the dorm can get in, and kill to people, things are not okay.

This is just so damn tragic. I don't pray, but I'm going to be doing a lot of praying tonight.

[Tishy]

I saw the guy's picture and it was truly scary. I just can't even put it in words. I feel so bad for everyone affected by this, even the shooter's parents and family. I am just praying for everyone today.

[Q Steph]

The convocation is very touching.

A few weeks ago, there was this agitated boy that came into the computer lab. He kept screaming at the computer, slamming his fists down on the table and making a scene. I was more than happy to tell a guard.

[Shawn]

I just found out that one of the victims went to my high school.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/.../NEWS/704170329

[Tishy]

I hope you are doing ok Shawn. This must be very surreal.

[Shawn]

Thanks Tishy.

I mean, I never met her. She graduated five years after me, but it feels much more tragic when it hits closer to home, you know?

I really feel for her family. I can't imagine going through this.

[Im-n-a-whirl]

Would anyone like an avatar to use? I found this one at the Hokie Talk message boards.

[Kylie]

I have one of those as my Facebook picture. Have you seen on Facebook, they have a few groups, and colleges from around the country are sending in their school logos with that logo above, with a caption that reads, "Today, we are all Hokies." It's one of the coolest things I've seen.

[Tishy]

I heard about that. I think its wonderful how so many people are pulling together. This tragedy is such an incomprehensible thing to me. I am still having such a hard time wrapping my head around this. I still can't stop tearing up.

[Q Steph]

Thanks. I will use it as my avi.

Unfortunately, all the unnecessary fighting has begun over race, coverage, etc. Simon Cowell rolled his eyes last night because Chris wanted a moment of silence. Rosie O'Donnell made a ridiculous blog entry comparing the shootings to Iraq. She said something along the lines that there was all this coverage for 30 people but not 3,000. I also know of some Asins being harrassed. This Canadian viewer called into Bill O'Reilly, insisting that the U.S. would destroy itself. Bill was quick to point out that the shooter was not an American.

The more information that comes to light, the angrier I get. He had a history of mental illness, stalking, deranged writing and the like. A teacher even went to the police prior but they couldn't arrest him.

[Q Steph]

Story Highlights• NEW: Cho apparently mailed package between the two shootings

• Virginia special justice in 2005 declared Cho Seung-Hui mentally ill

• Former roommates say Cho stalked women, spoke of suicide

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BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The man blamed for killing at least 30 people in Monday's shootings on the Virginia Tech campus before killing himself mailed a package containing photographs and writings to NBC, authorities announced Wednesday.

NBC reported Cho Seung-Hui apparently mailed the package during the two-hour lull between the shootings at the West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory and the shootings at Norris Hall.

"This may be a very new critical component of this investigation," State Police Col. Steve Flaherty said.

The network immediately notified authorities and the original documents were sent to the FBI for analysis, he said.

NBC reported that it agreed not to immediately disclose the contents of the package "beyond characterizing the material as 'disturbing.' "

CNN also learned Wednesday that in 2005 Cho was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice, who declared he was "an imminent danger" to himself, a court document states.

A temporary detention order from General District Court in the commonwealth of Virginia said Cho "presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness."

A box indicating that the subject "Presents an imminent danger to others as a result of mental illness" was not checked.

In another part of the form, Cho was described as "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization, and presents an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness, or is so seriously mentally ill as to be substantially unable to care for self, and is incapable of volunteering or unwilling to volunteer for treatment."

A handwritten section of the form describes Cho. "Affect is flat and mood is depressed," said the order, which was signed December 14 by Special Justice Paul M. Barnett. "He denies suicidal ideation. He does not acknowledge symptoms of a thought disorder. His insight and judgment are normal."

Barnett would not discuss Cho's case with CNN.

Student complaints

Police first investigated Cho in November 2005 after a student complained about him calling her and contacting her in person, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said. (Watch how police learned of Cho's troubles )

Cho was sent to the university's Office of Judicial Affairs, which handled the complaint, the outcome of which is confidential, university officials said.

"The student declined to press charges and referred to Cho's contact with her as annoying," Flinchum said of the November investigation.

Police investigated him again the next month when a female student complained about instant messages Cho sent her, Flinchum said.

"Again, no threat was made against that student. However, she made a complaint to the Virginia Tech Police Department and asked that Cho have no further contact with her," the chief said.

After police spoke to Cho, they received a call from a student concerned that he might be suicidal.

Officers spoke to Cho "at length" then asked him to see a counselor. He agreed to be evaluated by Access Services, an independent mental health facility in Blacksburg, the chief said.

"A temporary detention order was obtained and Cho was taken to a mental health facility" on December 13, 2005, he said.

A student asking to be identified only as Andy said he was the one who told police that Cho was suicidal. Police "took [Cho] away to the counseling center for a night or two," said the student, who used to room with Cho. (Watch Cho's roommates describe his 'crazy' behavior )

Authorities said they received no more complaints about Cho before the shootings, Flinchum said.

The university and its police continue to defend themselves against students' complaints that they weren't adequately warned about Cho -- even after two people were killed in a dormitory early Monday morning. (Watch how large universities protect students )

Though police have linked a gun used in Norris Hall -- where 31 people, including Cho, died -- they have yet to say he is officially accused of the first shootings. (Learn more about those killed in the rampage)

Professor recalls 'mean streak'

As tales of Cho's worrisome behavior continued to surface Wednesday, a renowned poet and author who taught the 23-year-old gunman called the notion that he was troubled "crap" and said he was "mean."

Nikki Giovanni said she immediately suspected Cho when she got word of the shootings. (Watch Giovanni declare at a Tuesday convocation, 'We are Virginia Tech' )

"I knew when it happened that that's probably who it was," Giovanni said, referring to her former pupil. "I would have been shocked if it wasn't."

Cho's poetry was so intimidating -- and his behavior so menacing -- that Giovanni had him removed from her class in the fall of 2005, she said. Giovanni said the final straw came when two of her students quit attending her poetry sessions because of Cho.

"I was trying to find out, what am I doing wrong here?" Giovanni recalled thinking, but the students later explained, "He's taking photographs of us. We don't know what he's doing." (Classmates called Cho 'question mark kid')

Giovanni went to the department's then-chairwoman, Lucinda Roy, and told her, "I was willing to resign before I was going to continue with him." Roy took Cho out of Giovanni's class.

"I know we're talking about a troubled youngster and crap like that, but troubled youngsters get drunk and jump off buildings; troubled youngsters drink and drive," Giovanni said. "I've taught troubled youngsters. I've taught crazy people. It was the meanness that bothered me. It was a really mean streak." (Watch how the cause of Cho's behavior could have been physical )

Roy, who taught Cho one-on-one after removing him from Giovanni's class, recalled Cho exhibiting a palpable anger and secretly taking photographs of other students while holding the camera under his desk. (Watch the professor tell how her student frightened her )

His writings were so disturbing, she said, that she went to the police and university administrators for help.

"The threats seemed to be underneath the surface," she said. "They were not explicit and that was the difficulty the police had."

Ian McFarlane, who had class with Cho, said two plays written by Cho were so "twisted" that McFarlane and other students openly pondered "whether he could be a school shooter." (Read McFarlane's blog and the two plays)

University stands by handling of shooting

Though two professors, Cho's former roommates and a classmate and police all recall Cho behaving in a disturbing manner, officials said there was nothing criminal about his demeanor.

The gun shop owner who sold him the Glock 9 mm, one of the guns used at Norris Hall, said the resident alien from South Korea easily passed a background check last month before buying the weapon. (Watch dealer recount selling weapon to Cho )

Asked about Roy's concerns that Cho was writing troubling plays and poems in his classes, Flinchum said no official report was filed.

"These course assignments were for a creative writing course and the students were encouraged to be imaginative and artistic," the chief said. "The writings did not express any threatening intentions or allude to criminal activity. No criminal violation had taken place."

Flinchum's remarks were the latest in the university's defense, not only of its handling of situations that arose before the shootings, but also of how it handled situations in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at West Ambler Johnston dorm.

The recurring question: Why weren't students warned or the campus locked down before Cho was able to walk into Norris Hall more than two hours later and exact the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history? (Watch how Virginia Tech students will never forget Monday's massacre )

Flinchum said Wednesday that details gleaned from the investigation at the dorm led to a decision among university officials and police that the campus did not need to be locked down.

"There are a lot of details we were providing to the administration and a decision was made based on that information," the chief said.

University President Charles Steger has said police believed the incident was "a domestic fight, perhaps a murder-suicide" that was contained to one dorm room.

Police cordoned off the 895-student dorm and all residents were told about the shooting as police looked for witnesses, Steger said.

"I don't think anyone could have predicted that another event was going to take place two hours later," Steger said.

Authorities are still investigating whether Cho had any accomplices in planning or executing Monday's rampage.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html