A gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead, the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, was identified Tuesday as a senior English major from South Korea.<!--break--.Ballistics tests show one gun was used in two attacks on the campus Monday morning _ at a dormitory were two people were killed and in a classroom building where 31 people, including the gunman, died locked inside, Virginia State Police said.

 

Police identified the classroom shooter as 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui (pronounced Choh Suhng-whee) of South Korea. There was no indication Tuesday of a possible motive for the attacks.

"He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," school spokesman Larry Hincker said.

Cho was in the U.S. as a resident alien with a residence established in Centerville, Va., but living on campus in Harper Residence Hall, the university said.

Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of because the information had not been announced, said Cho's fingerprints were found on the guns used in both shootings. The serial numbers on the two weapons had been filed off, the officials said.

One law enforcement official said Cho's backpack contained a receipt for a March purchase of a Glock 9 mm pistol.

Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police, said it was reasonable to assume that Cho was the shooter in both attacks but that the link was not yet definitive.

"There's no evidence of any accomplice at either event, but we're exploring the possibility," he said.

The first deadly attack was at the dormitory around 7:15 a.m., but some students said they didn't get their first warning about a danger on campus until two hours later, in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m. By then the second attack had begun.

The victims in Norris Hall were found in four different classrooms and a stairwell, Flaherty said. Cho was found dead in one of those classrooms, he said.

A federal law enforcement official said Tuesday he had been told by other federal law enforcement officials that the two guns recovered in the shooting had had their serial numbers scraped off. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been announced.

The slayings left people of this mountain town and the university at its heart praying for the victims and struggling to find order in a tragedy of such unspeakable horror it defies reason.

"For Ryan and Emily and for those whose names we do not know," one woman pleaded in a church service Monday night.

Another mourner added: "For parents near and far who wonder at a time like this, 'Is my child safe?'"

A memorial service was planned for the victims Tuesday afternoon at the university, and President Bush planned to attend, the White House said. Gov. Tim Kaine was flying back to Virginia from Tokyo for the 2 p.m. convocation.

Nine students remained hospitalized Tuesday at Montgomery Regional Hospital, all of them stable, CEO Scott Hill said. Two others had been transferred to other hospitals with a Level I trauma center.

Their families "are by the bedside, which is a good thing," Hill said.

Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem had three remaining patients, all in stable condition, with one expected to be discharged later Tuesday, Hill said.

Among the dead were professors Liviu Librescu and Kevin Granata, said Ishwar K. Puri, the head of the engineering science and mechanics department. Librescu, an Israeli, was born in Romania and was known internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, Puri wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Granata and his students researched muscle and reflex response and robotics. Puri called him one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview, citing e-mail he said students had sent to his family. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

Also killed were: Emily Jane Hilscher, 19, of Woodville; Mary Karen Read, 19, of Annandale; Ross Abdallah Alameddine, 20, of Saugus, Mass.; and Daniel Perez Cueva, 21, a native of Peru, friends, local officials and relatives said.

Ryan Clark, a student from Martinez, Ga., who had several majors and carried a 4.0 grade-point average, was also among the victims, said Vernon Collins, coroner in Columbia County, Ga. Clark was a resident assistant at Ambler Johnson Hall, the dorm where the first shootings took place.

Gregory Walton, a 25-year-old friend of Clark's who graduated last year, said he feared the nightmare had just begun.

"I knew when the number was so large that I would know at least one person on that list," Walton said. "I don't want to look at that list. I don't want to.

"It's just, it's going to be horrible, and it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Links:

University homepage

Virginia Tech Collegiate Times / front page of today's student newspaper

The Roanoke Times / PDFs of print coverage