WORLD / America
Va. Tech gunman sent material to NBC
(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-19 06:07
This video frame grab image taken from a video aired by NBC News on
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 shows Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui. The
video was part of a package allegedly mailed to the network on Monday,
April 16 between Cho's first and second shootings on the Virginia Tech
campus. [AP/NBC]
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Between his first and second bursts of gunfire, the
Virginia Tech gunman mailed a package to NBC News containing pictures of
him brandishing weapons and video of him delivering a diatribe about
getting even with rich people.
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"This may 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. He gave no details on the material, which NBC said it received in
Wednesday morning's mail.
NBC said that a time stamp on the package indicated the material was
mailed in the two-hour window between the first burst of gunfire in a
high-rise dormitory and the second fusillade, at a classroom building.
Thirty-three people died in the rampage, including the gunman,
23-year-old student Cho Seung-Hui, who committed suicide.
The package included a manifesto that "rants against rich people and
warns that he wants to get even," according to a law enforcement official
who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he
was not authorized to speak about the case.
MSNBC said the package included a CD-ROM on which Cho read his manifesto.
Late Wednesday, MSNBC showed a photo from the package of Cho glaring at
the camera, his arms outstretched with a gun in each hand. He wears a
khaki-colored military-style vest, fingerless gloves and a backwards,
black baseball cap. "NBC Nightly News" planned to show some of the
material Wednesday night.
NBC News President Steve Capus said the network promptly turned the
material over to the
FBI in New York.
Chinese President sends condolence:
President Hu Jintao yesterday extended his condolences to US President
George W. Bush over Monday's mass shooting at a university in the state
of Virginia.
In a message to Bush, Hu said he was shocked to learn about the tragedy.
"At this sorrowful moment, on behalf of the Chinese government and the
people, I would like to express deep sympathy and sincere consolation to
your excellency, the US government and people," Hu said in the message
made public by the Foreign Ministry.
Hu also offered condolences to families of the victims and wished the
injured a speedy recovery.
The material is "hard-to-follow ... disturbing, very disturbing very
angry, profanity-laced," he said on the MSNBC Web site. Among the
materials are digital video files showing Cho talking directly to the
camera about his hatred of the wealthy, Capus said.
It does not include any images of the shootings, but contains "vague
references," including "things like, `This didn't have to happen,'" Capus
said.
The package bore a Postal Service stamp showing that it had been received
at a Virginia post office at 9:01 a.m. Monday, about an hour and 45
minutes after Cho first opened fire, according to MSNBC.
If the package was indeed mailed between the first attack and the second,
that would help explain where Cho was and what he did during that
two-hour window.
Earlier in the day Wednesday, authorities disclosed that more than a year
before the massacre, Cho was accused of stalking two women and was taken
to a psychiatric hospital on a magistrate's orders because of fears he
might be suicidal. He was later released with orders to undergo
outpatient treatment.
The disclosure added to the rapidly growing list of warning signs that
appeared well before the student opened fire. Among other things, Cho's
twisted, violence-filled writings and sullen, vacant-eyed demeanor had
disturbed professors and students so much that he was removed from one
English class and was repeatedly urged to get counseling.
In November and December 2005, two women complained to campus police that
they had received calls and computer messages from Cho, but they
considered the messages "annoying," not threatening, and neither pressed
charges, Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.
Neither woman was among the victims in the massacre, police said.
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