New Cho Details Emerge as Tech Classes Resume

DISTURBING NEWS out of Blacksburg, Va., has become an unfortunately familiar occurrence this year, and details about the writings of Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech senior who shot and killed 32 people and himself earlier this year, have been nothing but.

The Post this morning brought news from anonymous sources that a paper Cho had written for an English class bore a chilling resemblance to his April 16 attack, the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in U.S. history.

Reports The Post's Sari Horwitz:

The protagonist in Cho's story plans a mass school murder but in the end does not follow through, the sources said. Some of what Cho wrote was echoed in the words he spoke on the videotape he made on the morning of the shootings, the sources said.

As has been a theme in this case, the story in question is known to some involved in the Cho investigation, but not to all. The panel appointed by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine only received a copy recently. State police have a copy, but federal officials don't, Horwitz reports.

As the Cho investigation continues, college life has returned to full swing in Blacksburg, where the new Tech fall semester began last week. However, the memory of the April shootings still appears to be fresh in students' minds, as one might expect. A memorial to the shooting victims, pictured at right, was dedicated on August 19, a day before the first day of classes. The student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, continues to feature regular updates on the investigation. And the link on the Tech homepage that once said "Health Center" now reads "Health/Counseling," and leads students to a counseling center that's offering an expanded slate of one-on-one and group sessions to discuss the shootings, the Collegiate Times reports.

And perhaps the question asked by Tech senior Austin Morton in a Collegiate Times op-ed last week — "[W]hen is it OK to start moving on?" — is on the minds of her fellow students as well. She offered this advice:

Don't allow yourself to feel guilty about your own happiness. Instead smile that much wider. Chances are someone's smiling back at you. Stand a little taller when you walk by Norris Hall and remember those who fought to save the lives of their fellow Hokies. And when the leaves on the Drillfield turn orange and maroon, you'll [know] who's up there watching over us. Love for 32, laugh for 32, live for 32.

» "Paper by Cho Exhibits Disturbing Parallels to Shootings, Sources Say" [WaPo]
» "Column: Reflection on the Events of April 16" [Collegiate Times]
» "Cook Counseling Center Expands Offerings" [Collegiate Times]

Photo courtesy Virginia Tech

Posted By Greg Barber at 1:18 PM on August 29, 2007 Tagged in Free Ride , News , Top Stories , Virginia , Virginia Tech

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