Cho Called NBC During VA Tech Massacre

Things are moving fast.

Rambling communication, video being examined by FBI, network says

Sometime after he killed two people in a Virginia university dormitory but before he slaughtered 30 more in a classroom building Monday morning, Cho Seung-Hui sent NBC News a rambling communication and videos about his grievances, the network said Wednesday.

Cho, 23, a senior English major at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, killed 32 people in two attacks Monday before taking his own life.

Network officials turned the material over to the FBI and said they would not immediately disclose its contents beyond characterizing the material as “disturbing.” It included a written communication, photographs and video.

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News,” said in a posting on the program’s “Daily Nightly” blog that the communication was received earlier Wednesday. He described it as a very long “multimedia manifesto.”
The package, timestamped in the two-hour window between Monday's shootings, was sent to NBC News head Steve Capus.It contained digital photos of the gunman holding weapons and a manifesto that "rants against rich people and warns that he wants to get even," The Associated Press quoted an unidentified New York law enforcement official familiar with the case as saying. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it. Police said the development might be "a very new, critical component of this investigation.""We're in the process right now of attempting to analyze and evaluate its worth," said Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia State Police.

As early as 2005, police and school administrators were wrestling with what to do with Cho, who was accused of stalking two female students and was sent to a mental health facility after police obtained a temporary detention order.

I wondered Tuesday why he was still in school, let alone not facing charges.

Setting fires?

Stalking women?

And he's allowed to remain there? I guess maybe we didn't want to offend the poor guy.

Based on his writing, I figure whatever Cho sent will be a psychotic rant.

Maybe he'll blame global warming.

UPDATE: More at Michelle Malkin.

Another Scare at Virginia Tech

Clearly, everyone is rattled after the events of Monday, and a false alarm was triggered this morning.

Virginia Tech students still on edge after the deadliest shooting in U.S. history got another scare Wednesday morning as police in SWAT gear with weapons drawn swarmed Burruss Hall, which houses the president's office.

The threat of suspicious activity turned out to be unfounded, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said, and the building was reopened. But students were rattled.

"They were just screaming, 'Get off the sidewalks,'" said Terryn Wingler-Petty, a junior from Wisconsin. "They seemed very confused about what was going on. They were just trying to get people organized."

One officer was seen escorting a crying young woman out, telling her, "It's OK. It's OK."

Roommates and professors began opening up Wednesday about the gunman who had killed 32 people and himself in two university buildings on Monday. Roommates said Cho Seung-Hui rarely spoke or made eye contact with them and that his bizarre behavior became even less predictable in recent weeks.

Cho started waking up as early as 5:30 a.m. instead of his usual 7 a.m., his roommate, Joseph Aust, told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"I tried to make conversation with him earlier in the year when he moved in," Aust said. "He would just give one-word answers and stay quiet. He pretty much never looked me in the eye."

Aust was among many students and professors who described the killer in the worst shooting massacre in modern U.S. history as a sullen loner, and authorities said he left a rambling note raging against women and rich kids.

News reports said that Cho, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English, may have been taking medication for depression and that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic.

Meanwhile, more details on why there was such a long delay before a lockdown was imposed.

Virginia Tech police decided against locking down the school and going on high alert after a double-murder early Monday because they were told the female victim's boyfriend was a gun nut, so considered it an isolated incident, sources said.

Cops, in fact, were questioning the boyfriend when they got calls of the second round of shootings, police said.

So there you go. Someone who's now a gun owner and has done nothing wrong is a gun nut. Good grief.

Elsewhere, check out The Evil Men Do from the Washington Times and Blue Ridge Evil at NRO.

And the drive-by media idiocy continues unabated.

UPDATE: Allahpundit has some interesting new information.

Asians in Fear of Backlash?

Here we go.

Asians fear backlash after Virginia Tech shooting (Hat tip Joey Jojo, Jr.)

"It is big news in South Korea. Yesterday they were worried if I'm safe, now they are worried there might be a risk that I'm South Korean," said Yoo.

In Seoul, the South Korean government also expressed fears of a backlash.

"We are working closely with our diplomatic missions and local Korean residents' associations in anticipation of any situation that may arise," a Foreign Ministry official said.

South Korea has the largest number of foreign students in the United States -- nearly 15 percent -- according to the U.S. Customs and Enforcement Web site.

Police say Cho chained doors closed to trap students inside as he gunned them down before killing himself. There were early rumors the gunman was Asian, but his identity was not disclosed until Tuesday.

Some 1,655 students at Virginia Tech, or 6.2 percent, are Asian, the university's Web site says.

Annie Hang Tran, a member of the Korean American Student Association, said Cho did not belong to the group. "I didn't know the shooter," she said, declining further comment.

White students on campus dismissed suggestions there might be a backlash against foreigners at the university.

"It hadn't even crossed my mind," said Andrew Rush, 20, an accounting major. "There is a huge Asian community on campus and we're all together in class all day. It's so integrated I don't think this will change anything."

Perhaps when the dreaded backlash fails to happen, the folks from CAIR can give them tips on how to create bogus hate crimes.

The Evil of Cho Seung-Hui

Now that we know his name, the questions begin. Reports are coming in from all over, one suggesting he was crazed over a girl, leaving behind a note blaming America.

More background on this piece of garbage here.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the note railed against "rich kids" and "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

The Tribune also said Cho had been behaving strangely lately, setting a dorm room on fire and allegedly stalking women. Other reports said he had been taking medicine for depression.

Setting fires?

Stalking women?

And he's allowed to remain there? I guess maybe we didn't want to offend the poor guy.

A Virginia Tech professor said Cho's work in creative-writing class was so disturbing that he had been referred to the school's counseling service.

Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university's English department, said she did not personally know the gunman. But she said she spoke with Lucinda Roy, the department's director of creative writing, who had Cho in one of her classes and described him as "troubled."

"There was some concern about him," Rude said. "Sometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it's creative or if they're describing things, if they're imagining things or just how real it might be. But we're all alert to not ignore things like this."

She said Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was. Rude refused to release any of his writings or his grades, citing privacy laws.

Good thing we have those privacy laws. Wouldn't want to infringe upon his rights.

So Rude says they're all alert to not ignore things like this, but admits she did not know when, or what the outcome was.

Wow. Very alert.

Whatever shakes out in the days ahead, let's focus the blame where it should be, on this monster who took at least 32 lives. Let's not be searching for root causes or other excuses to blame America. Focus squarely on the deranged lunatic who thought because he had some problems, it was OK to take out his rage on innocent people in the most violent possible way.

Blame Cho Seung-Hui.

Elsewhere, Michelle Malkin notes the Asian American Journalists Association is upset the killer is being called Asian. An inconvenient truth, I guess.

Hot Air also keeps the updates flowing.

UPDATE: Smoking Gun has Virginia Killer's Violent Writings.

Claudia Rosett has an interesting angle.

When the news broke about the shootings at Virginia Tech, one of the first stories that came to mind was an essay widely read in writing courses at American schools: Jo Ann Beard’s “The Fourth State of Matter.” It’s a skillfully written tale — a good teaching tool for writers, and a story I read years ago with great interest — in which the core event is the shooting spree at Iowa State University in 1991, in which a Chinese physics student murdered five people and paralyzed a sixth for life. In yesterday’s killings, there were so many eerie echoes of that horror that I pulled the story off the web and re-read it.

Now we learn that the shooter at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hui, was an English major. In the course offerings at Virginia Tech this spring semester, there is “English 3724: Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction,” covering “the works of writers like Jo Ann Beard,” among others. Did Cho take this course? Did he read that story?