Police Provide New Details on VT Shooting

Dawn Jefferies / WSLS NewsChannel 10
Published: April 25, 2007

Monday morning: witnesses see Cho Seung-Hui standing, possibly waiting outside West Ambler Johnston just before the first shooting.

7:20 AM: a call to police saying someone fell from a loft bed. An officer shows up to find Emily Hilscher and Resident Assistant Ryan Clark shot to death. Only two shots had been fired. There's no evidence Cho knew either one. Police lock down the dorm and police track down a potential suspect witnesses say was not on campus.

At 9:42 While officers question the unnamed suspect, another call comes in- shots fired in Norris Hall.

Col. Steve Flaherty says "he took steps at Norris Hall to prevent anyone from escaping and also to make it more difficult for police to enter the building and stop him."

It takes 3-minutes for officers to arrive at Norris, but police say cho chained all three public doors. They shoot the locks to get in and hear shots upstairs. The last one goes off when officers reach the top of the stairs on the second floor.

The shooting rampage in Norris Hall lasts 9 minutes. Cho fires more than 170 rounds. 30 people in Norris are dead, 25 more hurt.

Police say Cho still had ammunition left when he killed himself.          

Police say no one saw Cho inside West Ambler Johnston that morning. They dot know he went back to his own dorm, Harper Hall, after the first shooting.

It was also after the first shooting Cho's package containing pictures and video was mailed to NBC, investigators can't confirm Cho is the one who mailed it.  They do know it was made before the massacre. They also know where it was made, but Flaherty did not reveal that location in today's news conference.

It's the only evidence police say they have to show Cho alerted anyone to his plan. The question of why has yet to be answered.

Col. Flaherty says "There's no motive we're confident of or that we can support with evidence."

Earlier in the news conference, Virginia Tech police chief Flinchum praised the work of the two medics among the first responders, saying they undoubtedly saved countless lives. Other police officers worked to keep wounded students and staff from slipping into shock. Cho had fired over 170 rounds, but police said he still had ammunition remaining.

Col. Flaherty said that in the aftermath of the shootings, police have gathered over 500 groups of evidence, enough to fill a sizeable trailer. He reminded reporters that this investigation is only 10 days old, and much of the evidence has not yet been analyzed.

Flaherty provided some insight into how the investigation is proceeding. The team of Norris Hall investigators meet each morning and again in the afternoon to share information and discuss ideas, including theories about motive. While investigators have not yet uncovered a reason for the tragic shootings, Flaherty re-stated that in his humble opinion, Cho was a "very troubled individual".

Forensics teams are systematically analyzing each bit of evidence collected, a process that Flaherty indicated could take months, not weeks. Flaherty indicated that even more evidence would likely be added and analyzed. One example could be e-mail records. Emily Hilscher's e-mail and phone records have been searched for a link to Cho, but Flaherty indicated that no link was found. He also seemed to indicate that Hilscher's records were only one early request among many possible requests for information.

Cho's quiet, withdrawn nature is not helping the investigators. "I guess the thing that is most startling to me, I say startling, surprising, is a young man who's 23 years old, that's been here for a while, that seemed to not know anybody," Flaherty said.

Among the facts that Flaherty and Flinchum confirmed:
-Cho has NOT been tied to earlier bomb threats on the VT campus.
-over 170 rounds were fired in Norris. 2 rounds were fired in West AJ. Cho still had ammunition when he comitted suicide.
-Cho returned to his dorm in Harper Hall between the West AJ and Norris Hall shootings.
-The State Police have not spoken with Cho's parents, but Flaherty later added that the FBI had.
-State police know where Cho filmed the videos later sent to NBC. They also know that the videos were created before the shootings. They would not conclusively confirm that Cho was the person who delivered the package to the post office.
-The person detained early in the West AJ shootings is no longer a suspect.
-Witness reports place Cho "standing outside" the West AJ dorm before 7:15 am. Police do not yet know how he entered the building.
-3 doors were chained shut at Norris Hall, but there were no witnesses to that event.
-Police at this point will not completely rule out the possibility that Cho had help, but all of the evidence seems to indicate that he acted alone.