Gunman in Virginia university killings acted alone, police believe

All evidence suggests the gunman who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech university Monday acted alone, a police superintendent said Tuesday evening.

"We can't prove at this point if he had an accomplice," Col. Steve Flahertyof the Virginia state police told reporters. "There is no evidence that he did."

Flaherty said nothing so far suggests that one gunman killed two students in a dormitory on Monday morning and a second gunmankilled 30 people two hours later at an engineering building, as police said was a possibility.

Police identified the gunman as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old undergrad enrolled in his senior year as an English major. A native of South Korea, Cho moved to the United States at age eight and grew up in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Centreville, according to U.S. immigration records.

He killed himself on campus Monday before police could apprehend him. The university is in the town of Blacksburg, and set in rolling hills in the southwest corner of the state.

Flaherty said the two handguns recovered at the scene belonged to Cho. Ballistics tests indicate the bullets fired in both the engineering building and the dormitory were the same.

Fifteenstudents were wounded in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech, formally known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Threewere in critical condition, hospital officials said Tuesday.

Flaherty said attempts are still being made to positively identify the students and staff killed in the rampage.Students and staff were starting to learn the names of classmates and teachers on Tuesday.

Stefan Caulfield, a Toronto native and Virginia Tech sophomore, found out Tuesday morning that his friend had died in the worst campus shooting in American history.

"I turned on the TV this morning and her brother was being interviewed," the 19-year-old told CBC News. "It was pretty tough for me to watch."

The first shooting took place at about 7:15 a.m. ET Monday at West Ambler Johnston dormitory, a co-ed residence housing more than 800 students.

The second was at an engineering building, Norris Hall, where the gunman sprayed bullets into classrooms as students leapt from second-storey windows to escape.

The campus was closed Tuesday and classes were cancelled.

A memorial to honour the victims was held in the afternoonin a campus basketball arena. U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, were in attendance.

A candlelight vigil was heldat night on campus.

'Just a normal-looking kid'

Erin Sheehan, one of four people able to walk out of her German class in Norris Hall after the shooting rampage, said the gunman "was just a normal-looking kid." She said he was wearing aboy scout-type outfit.

Virginia Tech police Chief Wendell Flinchum confirmed investigators recovered two weapons at the scene a 9-mm handgun and a .22-calibre handgun. Both were legally purchased by Cho, who was a legal, permanent resident, Flaherty said.

CBC News's Henry Champ, on the scene Tuesday at Virginia Tech, said the shootings have sparked a debate in the community about gun control. He said some people are saying students should be allowed to carry concealed weapons so they could have stopped the killer.

Others are saying if guns were harder to obtain, the shooting would have never happened in the first place.

No motive identified yet

Police and university officials said they have not yet determined a motive for the killings.

Flaherty said Cho did not leave a suicide note, but he would not confirm if any other notes had been found in Cho's campus dormitory room.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said Cho tended to keep to himself, which makes it difficult to understand what his motives might have been.

"We're having difficulty finding information about him," Hincker said.

Cho had been referred to the school's counselling service after one of his creative writing teachers found his writings to be troubled, said Prof. Carolyn Rude, head of the university's English department.

"There was some concern about him," she 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 on alert not to ignore things like this."

She said she did not knowwhether Cho went for counselling.