Virginia Tech gunman a South Korean stude

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AFP) - A 23-year-old student from South Korea described as a "loner" was identified Tuesday as the gunman who carried out the deadliest school shooting in US history.
As anger and grief gripped the campus of Virginia Tech University, where 33 people died on Monday, police named the gunman as Cho Seung-Hui, a student at the school and resident alien in the United States.
Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia state police, told a press conference here that Cho was an English major at Virginia Tech in his senior year from Centreville, Virginia, and had been living in a campus dormitory.
No motive was given for the rampage.
University authorities have come under fire from some students and parents for their handling of the tragedy.
Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations, said officials had difficulty obtaining information about the gunman. "He was a loner and we had difficulty finding information about him," he said.
Two people were shot dead in an initial attack in a campus dormitory on Monday around 7:15 am. Another 30 were killed in Norris Hall, an engineering building, two and one half hours later. Up to 30 others were wounded.
Cho shot himself in the head as police closed in on Norris Hall, where he had methodically gunned down dozens of students and faculty members after chaining the doors of the building from the inside.
Flaherty said a 9mm handgun and a 22mm handgun had been recovered from Norris Hall.
He said ballistics tests indicated one of the weapons was used in both shootings but could not say whether Cho was the only gunman and would not exclude the possibility he had help carrying out the massacre.
"It certainly is reasonable for us to assume that Cho was the shooter in both places, but we don't have the evidence to take us there at this particular point in time," Flaherty said.
"The ballistics test says that one of the weapons used in Norris Hall was also used in the (first) shooting," he said.
"We are exploring whether or not there was someone that may or may not have helped Cho at any point during his planning or his execution of this particular event," he added.
As police pursued their investigation into the rampage, the campus of this university of 26,000 students in southwestern Virginia prepared to welcome President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush for a memorial ceremony.
A candlelight vigil was also planned and flags were flying at half-mast across the country on Tuesday.
Amid the shock and horror, some students and families criticized college officials who failed to lock down the campus or alert students when gunfire first broke out.
Anger has mounted that warnings of the early morning shooting on campus were sent too late to stop the second, deadlier massacre in another building.
"There was a long lapse between the first incident and the second," said student John Reaves, 22.
The head of public safety for Virginia, John Marshall, defended university authorities on Tuesday telling a press conference the right decisions had been made.
"I think it's important to note that yesterday morning President (Charles) Steger and his staff, and chief (Wendell) Flinchum in law enforcement, made the right decisions based on the best information that they had available at the time," Marshall said.
Early Monday a man and a woman were found dead in a dormitory complex and police began questioning someone who knew one of the victims. More than two hours later Cho stalked classrooms in Norris Hall, leaving a trail of carnage.
Bodies were found in four classrooms and a stairwell, police said Tuesday.
Student Erin Sheehan survived along with a handful of classmates in a 20-plus member German class. Students held the door shut against the gunman after he barged in twice and fired repeatedly, she said.
"He seemed very thorough about it, getting almost everyone down. I was trying to act dead," she said.
One of the victims was identified as Ryan Clark, a young man who was shot in the dormitory in the morning. A woman was also killed in that incident but her name has not been released.
Lorraine and Jeff Watkins drove to Blacksburg to see their 19-year-old daughter Lauren, who lives in the dormitory where the first shooting took place.
They expressed frustration that school officials did not lock down the entire university after the first incident.
"If someone has come into a campus and murdered two students in a dorm, there should be a mass filing informing students and staff of what is going on immediately," Lorraine Watkins said.
The shooting immediately renewed concern over school security and access to guns that was rekindled last year by a rash of shootings. The state of Virginia has some of the weakest gun licensing requirements in the country.

tunku : if it was a muslim who did this for sure america will link it to Al Qaeda.