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Deadliest Shooting Rampage in U.S. History; Virginia Tech Police Hold News Conference
Aired April 17, 2007 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, live from the campus of Virginia Tech.
It is the morning after a day of infamy. The deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history shatters the peace of a college campus. We're awaiting a university news conference that's due to get under way at any moment.
It has already been a morning of very fast developments. We've learned more now about the gunman and more about the 32 victims. These are the faces of some of those killed in the gruesome killing spree. Their stories straight ahead.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We will also hear from the survivors.
And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
What they saw and how they managed to escape the killer's wrath. And a clinical psychologist looks inside the minds of a mad man, what drives someone to kill so many -- Heidi.
COLLINS: First, let's go ahead and take a moment -- let's take a moment to set the scene for you with what we know now.
Virginia Tech's president says the gunman was a student at the school. Charles Steger says the shooter was "an Asian male who was a resident in one of our dormitories." A motive has not been released. The gunman killed himself as police closed in.
HARRIS: Officials still have not released the complete list of those killed in yesterday's massacre, but we are learning about some of them. Among those confirmed dead are Ryan Clark, a 22-year-old senior fror Martinez, Georgia. Clark's brother says he was a resident adviser in the dormitory where the first shooting took place.
Clark was a triple major. You heard me correctly, a triple major -- psychology, biology and English.
Killed in the engineering building, Ross Alameddine, a student from Saugus, Massachusetts; G.V. Loganathan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering; and Liviu Librescu, a professor of engineering, science and mechanics. He is described as Israeli-born Romanian who was internationally known for his research in aeronautical engineering. COLLINS: School administrators are dealing with an unprecedented tragedy and incredible grief this morning. But they are also facing a barrage of criticism.
Our John Roberts of "AMERICAN MORNING" sat down with Virginia tech president Charles Steger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLES STEGER, PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA TECH: We do know he was an Asian -- I'm talking about the second mass event -- an Asian male who was a resident in one of our dormitories. He was one of our students.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now you say the second mass event. Are you separating that away from the first event? Could there be potentially two shooters?
STEGER: There could be. We don't know. The investigation is still unfolding.
But we had one shooting early in the morning that -- initially, and we don't know the answer to this. It appeared to be domestic fight, perhaps a murder-suicide. It was characterized by our security people as being contained to that dorm room. As we were working through the -- what we were going to do to deal with that, the message came on over the radio that another shooting across campus was taking place, and that's when the large number of people were killed.
ROBERTS: Do you believe there could be a second killer still at large here?
STEGER: We don't think so.
ROBERTS: Right.
One of the -- one of the big points of controversy here -- and this comes from every student at Virginia Tech that I have talked to...
STEGER: Sure.
ROBERTS: ... is, why was there a two hour and 10 minute lag between the time that there was the shooting at West AJ at 7:15 and the time the e-mail went out at 9:26 notifying students that something had happened?
STEGER: Well, first of all, when the event happened at AJ, the dormitory was immediately closed down. It was surrounded by security guards, the streets were cordoned off, and the students and the building were notified of what was going on.
We also had to find witnesses, because we didn't know what had happened. The individuals who were wounded -- or at the time one was dead, we think, I'm not sure about that -- were sent the hospital, and it was based on the interrogation of the witnesses that we think there was another person involved. And, so, we wanted to be sure we could gather as much accurate information before taking steps. But it was -- the situation was characterized as being confined to that dormitory room. We thought we had it under control. And I don't think anyone could have predicted that another event was going to take place two hours later.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And you hear the words there from the Virginia Tech president speaking with our John Roberts just moments ago, earlier in the morning.
Let's set the stage for you just a moment if we could, as we await this news conference, which we are hearing is going to come our way at 9:20 Eastern. We're going to be hearing from school officials about the events that took place yesterday, more about the timeline, and more possibly about some of the criticism that we have been hearing about that two-and-a-half hour delay between the first shooting and the barrage of shootings that took place in Norris Hall.
Just to give you a little bit of information, Tony, as we drove in here last night, we drove in from Atlanta and got here at about 11:30 last night. And I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we got here, but we thought maybe we could see students out and about trying to console each other and doing the things that kids do on nights where they just really seem to need each other.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: We thought that we might be able to see some of them at pizza places or at the bars. But I will tell you, when we tried to go and visit some of those places, everything was absolutely shut down. We found one really sad note on the door of one of the bars that said, "Due to the tragedy, our facility is closed and we won't be opening for a couple of days. God bless the students of Virginia Tech."
We were able to come across a young group of kids, freshmen, in fact, who were here, if you remember, on that first day of school when there was the first shooting back in August. And now, just a few weeks away from the culmination of their freshman year at Virginia Tech, this happens. And I'll tell you, those kids were stunned, still, at 11:30 at night, just sitting and eating a sandwich at a nearby sub shop.
HARRIS: Yes. I think it's indicative...
COLLINS: So it was...
HARRIS: ... that note that you saw there, indicative of the fact of a couple things. First of all, the enormity of the tragedy. And also, a realization that it is going to take some time for that campus and that campus community to bounce back from the events of yesterday, Heidi.
I think that's indicative in that note, and your trip into Blacksburg last night. All right. COLLINS: Yes, no question about it.
HARRIS: We will get back to you in just a second, Heidi.
We want to look at more clues. What can we learn about this killing?
Let's go deeper into the Virginia Tech investigation with security analyst Mike Brooks.
Mike, great to see you, my friend.
Here is the question that is, I think, front and center in just about everyone's mind today. Would there be more students, more of the faculty alive today on that campus if the e-mail, if the alert had been sent out, say, 7:30...
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Right.
HARRIS: ... as opposed to 9:25, 9:30, when the messages from the campus started to be received by the students?
BROOKS: Well, you know, it's something that's going to be taken a look at. They're going to be taking a look at every process that they went through from the time the first 911 call came in...
HARRIS: At 7:15.
BROOKS: ... at the dorm, at 7:15, to all the way until the time the gunman killed himself, and then afterwards, their after-action report. But, you know, it's easy to sit and Monday morning quarterback.
HARRIS: And second-guess this, absolutely.
BROOKS: It really is. And, you know, I tell you, having been a cop myself for 26 years -- and I respond to incidents nothing like this, nothing to the magnitude of this. But when you get there, you're worried about the people who are already -- who are shot.
You've got police, fire, EMS, emergency medical service personnel, all over the place. And we heard yesterday from the chief of the police department there at the school that they thought that was an isolated incident.
HARRIS: OK. Here is the quote from the Virginia Tech police chief, Wendell Flinchum. He said, "We were acting on the best information we had at the time."
BROOKS: Right.
HARRIS: "We felt this incident was isolated to that dormitory."
BROOKS: Exactly. So, the question is, should the rest of the school have been notified about this? Possibly, yes. Just to let them know what was going on, keep everyone informed. But the notification system is an e-mail system. And, you know, is that a good notification system?
If you're not in your dorm, if you weren't by a computer, you don't have a Blackberry or a PDA, you're not going to know. You know, was there kind of a campus-wide P.A. system that was used? We know that there was a public address system in some of the different buildings, but is there one campus-wide? That remains to be seen.
You know, I was very concerned. I've got three cousins that go to school at Virginia Tech, a freshman, a sophomore and a senior.
HARRIS: Have you ever been on campus?
BROOKS: I've been to campus, yes. I have.
HARRIS: OK. All right.
BROOKS: And it's huge. It's sprawling. Everybody said, "Oh, they should have shut it down."
HARRIS: Twenty-six hundred acres.
BROOKS: Twenty-six hundred acres, almost 25,000 students. I mean, it's just unbelievable.
HARRIS: Over 100 buildings.
BROOKS: Yes. It's a small city.
HARRIS: Yes.
BROOKS: You know, is it possible to shut down a small city?
I think from what I'm hearing, what I've seen, what we're hearing from the witnesses, it sounds like the police did a pretty good job in the beginning. Now, again, they are going to take a look at everything with -- they're going to...
HARRIS: I'm going to stop you. I'm going to stop you right there, Mike, because here's the thing. When you go and assess that crime scene, that initial crime scene in that dormitory, you have two victims. What you don't have, Mike, is the shooter.
BROOKS: You don't have the shooter, and you've got the initial officers responding. No, they're coming up there, they don't know what they've got.
You know, it's like someone -- I heard someone on the radio here in Atlanta today. You know, it's not -- there's not a S.W.A.T. kiosk.
HARRIS: Yes.
BROOKS: You know, the S.W.A.T. team isn't going to be there immediately. But I can tell you, the police department at the University of Virginia Tech, they are a highly trained -- they are trained as well as the municipal cops anywhere around the state of Virginia, because there is a certain standard for the state.
Now, you know, after Columbine -- and we're coming up on the anniversary of Columbine on the 20th of April.
HARRIS: Yes.
BROOKS: It happened in 1999.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
BROOKS: And now the 16th is going to be an anniversary.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
BROOKS: But after Columbine, law enforcement learned a lot, and they changed a lot of their procedures on how to respond to incidents such as Columbine. They came up with programs like the Active Shooter program.
I was involved in some of the first Active Shooter training, now the Federal Enforcement Training Center, where you don't wait to go in. You get at least three officers and you go and you try to neutralize the threat at the time when it's happening instead of waiting, because in Columbine, they were criticizing law enforcement because you saw all of the students coming out.
HARRIS: Yes.
BROOKS: And they were waiting to get enough cops together to go in as a team. But now with the Active Shooter program, you get at least three together, it's almost kind of a S.W.A.T. training, if you will, for the regular patrol cops.
HARRIS: Mike, I have to -- I know you want to make another point, but I need to go back to this whole idea of the initial assessment of the situation.
BROOKS: Sure.
HARRIS: Once again, you have two victims, you don't have a shooter. You know there are going to be modifications in the plan moving forward. If you have the victims and you don't have the shooter, you have no idea you're doing interviews where the shooter might be, how do you swing in to action more effectively in the future? Let's think about future planning.
BROOKS: Right. Well, let's go back just one second to what the chief yesterday said.
HARRIS: All right.
BROOKS: From the information they had, they thought that he theft area and left the state.
HARRIS: Yes.
BROOKS: So, was there a note or something that was left there?
HARRIS: And we don't know that at this point.
BROOKS: Was there a statement made? We don't know. So that's -- you know, again, going back on the best information that he had at that time, you know, I think they did what they had to do.
Now, moving forward, they are going to take a look at this. Will there be additional training? Will there be other procedures come into place for the Virginia Tech Police Department, Blacksburg, Virginia State and police across the nation?
HARRIS: Yes.
BROOKS: Most likely. Just like it was in Columbine.
HARRIS: OK.
BROOKS: And -- but again, it's still early on. And we need to -- you know, don't -- we can't Monday morning quarterback.
HARRIS: I agree with that. I agree with that.
BROOKS: Too much. Let's...
HARRIS: But you understand these are the questions.
BROOKS: Oh, absolutely.
HARRIS: OK. All right.
BROOKS: And these are questions that need to be asked, Tony.
HARRIS: OK.
BROOKS: But we will find out more. You know they're not saying who the victim (sic) is right now because you know how -- and I can tell you why. You know how the media is. We find out, we're investigators ourselves, we go out and then...
HARRIS: And we're trying to get...
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: Right. And they're trying to -- we have heard of at least one search warrant that was served by Virginia State down in the Blacksburg area. They're trying to trace the guns back to exactly where they were bought.
You know, I heard from a source last night that the serial numbers had been filed off. I heard -- and we're getting more and more pieces of information coming in.
HARRIS: Indicating the planning that went into this.
BROOKS: Absolutely. HARRIS: OK. Mike, you're going to stick around with me throughout the news conference...
BROOKS: Yes.
HARRIS: ... and give us your thoughts and analysis of the questions and answers and the information that we get. The information that we get from this news conference, which is scheduled to begin in just a couple of minutes, scheduled for 9:20.
In the meantime, let's go back to Heidi in Blacksburg.
COLLINS: That's right. And some of the other information that we are now getting, the White House says President Bush will speak that the afternoon's convocation at Virginia Tech. That service is scheduled to begin at 2:00 Eastern.
CNN will of course have live coverage of that.
We want to go ahead and show you just a moment now, a picture of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. As you probably well know, the flags have been ordered to half staff for this tragedy that has happened at Virginia Tech.
We've been trying to get more information about what -- how this will all be handled. We heard some of the representatives and leadership of Washington speak out yesterday and give their condolences to the families of the students and faculty members here. So, obviously, this tragedy is reaching not only around the country, but internationally as well.
I want to go ahead and take a moment now to give you some facts about Virginia Tech's main campus.
It includes more than 100 buildings, over 2,600 acres, and when you come here, you do realize pretty immediately that there are many towns in this country much, much smaller than this campus alone. It is absolutely huge, with many entrances, many of them wide open. It is a very, very large place indeed.
In fact, the shootings happened at West Ambler Johnston Hall. That's a huge coed dormitory. Almost 900 students reside there.
And Norris Hall, an engineering building on the opposite sit side of the drill field. And last night, when we had a chance to speak with some students, they explained to me that there's the residence side of the campus and the academic side of the campus. They are split by that drill field.
The distance between the two shooting scenes, about a half a mile. That's about a 15-minute walk, just to put it in perspective for you.
And Tony, I want to go ahead and show you some of the press that has been happening locally here. Of course, we had our affiliates, our television stations up yesterday for quite some time. They did a fantastic job with this.
But if I can, I want to show you the morning paper here. This is "The Roanoke Times". Absolutely huge headline, of course, "Massacre on Campus," as someone is being taken out of the buildings by authorities there.
The entire paper, of course, filled with stories like this and pictures like this. So it is a very, very rough time here at Virginia Tech.
HARRIS: Imagine the folks in that community waking up to see those headlines, those pictures, "Massacre on Campus".
OK, Heidi. We will check back with you in just a couple of moments.
Right now we want to get to CNN's John Zarrella. He is at Montgomery Regional Hospital. That's in Blacksburg, where 19 victims were treated.
And John, a briefing, an update just a short time ago. And some good news came out of that briefing.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Tony. I was going to say that the people here in Blacksburg and in this surrounding area certainly need a little bit of good news, and that did come this morning from the CEO, Scott Hill.
There were three people who were in critical condition yesterday. They are doing much better today. The details of the conditions spelled out by CEO Scott Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT Hill, MONTGOMERY REGIONAL HOSPITAL: Twelve of the patients from yesterday's shooting remain at hospitals, including Montgomery Regional Hospital and Lewis-Gale Medical Center. All are in stable condition.
We have nine patients here at Montgomery Regional Hospital. Three of those were critical last night. They have been upgraded to stable as of this morning.
And at Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem, they have three patients remaining. All are in stable condition, one is expected to be discharged today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, there were in all four major surgeries performed here yesterday, two minor surgeries. No surgeries performed overnight, according to Scott Hill.
I can tell you, Tony, that yesterday, when it all began to unfold here, they declared what's called a code green, which is the disaster drill that they plan for. More doctors were called in, and immediately they began to receive patients. And in fact, Mr. Hill said that they believe they received the first two of the victims here very early on yesterday morning, and then the mass number of casualties began to arrive -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK. CNN's John Zarrella for us from Blacksburg.
John, as always, thank you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Just want to remind everybody, Tony, that of course we are awaiting this press conference that was originally scheduled for 9:00 a.m. They've moved it back a bit until 9:20.
We believe we will be hearing from the police chief to hear more about the events of yesterday. Maybe fill in some of those gaps, because everyone is talking about that two, two and a half hour time span between the first 911 call and the first shooting that occurred at the residence hall, and then later in Norris Hall, where all of the other people were killed. Everyone's trying to figure out what exactly happened, why the school didn't go on lockdown and so forth.
To give you a little more color there, Tony, I was able to talk with some other kids last night, and I said, "Listen, you know, are you upset about not knowing about the first shooting? Did you feel like that was your right to know, to be able to protect yourself in whatever way you found necessary?"
And they said, "You know what? Not really." The ones that I spoke to said not really, because they are fully aware of how large this campus is and what a daunting task they said it would be to completely shut this place down.
And because, as we've been talking on our air, Tony, about the number of commuters at this campus. Twenty-six thousand kids, but only 10,000 live on campus. So, to get a hold of them through this e- mail process that we've been talking about, I'm just...
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: ... anxious to hear more about how they would have done that and how they would have made this place 100 percent safe right off the bat.
So it's definitely a unique set of circumstances and a really tough thing to do. So we're going to learn more about that hopefully through this press conference that will be coming up in just a few minutes.
Meanwhile, just to give everyone and remind them a timeline of what we do know so far of this tragedy, a look at how the Virginia Tech massacre unfolded. We'll be having that for you coming up in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And also ahead in the NEWSROOM this morning, the Virginia Tech tragedy, live shortly with the mayor of Blacksburg, also the editor of the school newspaper.
You are in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, here at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where the scene of the worst shooting in U.S. history has taken place.
You saw it first in the CNN NEWSROOM yesterday as those events started to unfold. And in fact, it was about this time yesterday when we now know that some of the second phone calls, some of the second warnings, and that second brutal shooting happened in the second building, Norris Hall, on the Virginia Tech campus.
We now know 30 people have been killed, 31 including the gunman. We want to set the scene for you if we could as we await this press conference that will be coming up any minute now with hopefully more information coming our way from the police chief.
Here is what we know at this point.
Virginia Tech's president says the gunman was a student at the school. Charles Steger says the shooter was "... an Asian male who was a resident of one of our dormitories." A motive has not been released. The gunman killed himself as police closed in.
Officials still have not released the complete list of those killed in yesterday's massacre, but we are learning a little about some of them.
Among those confirmed dead are Ryan Clark. He is a 22-year-old senior from Martinez, Georgia. Clark's brother says he was a resident advisor -- that's an RA -- in the dormitory where the first shooting took place, West Ambler Johnston.
Clark was a triple major: psychology, biology and English. He was killed in the engineering building.
We will tell you more about these victims in just a few moments. Let's go directly now to the press conference here at Virginia Tech.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
LARRY HINCKER, ASSOCIATE V.P., UNIVERSITY RELATIONS: After that, we will have a presentation by Chief Wendell Flinchum, Virginia Tech PD's department chief; Colonel Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia State Police. He will give you as much as we now know with respect to the shootings.
After that we're going to have an explanation from the medical examiner's office, Dr. Marcella Fierro. Dr. Fierro will talk about the process that they are going through right now for identification.
QUESTION: Can you spell Marcella?
HINCKER: M-A-R-C-E-L-L-A.
After that the honorable John Marshall, Virginia secretary of public safety.
There will be no Q and A. They will be leaving. I will stay behind and talk about logistics for the rest of the day.
I will also have their comments over here as soon as I possibly can. We're trying to get them faxed over, e-mailed over, make as many copies as I can for you. Some time in the next 20 to 30 minutes they will be on our Web site. At the conclusion of their presentations of what we now know, I will talk about the logistics for the convocation.
Thank you.
STEGER: Thank you.
Well, as you know, we are continuing to work to try to comprehend and understand the terrible tragedy that occurred on the campus yesterday. We send our thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of our students, and we must begin to work through the process of providing assistance to them. It is very difficult for me to express how we feel about what has occurred on campus, but I want to assure you that we're doing everything possible to move forward.
We're here this morning to provide you with the latest information involving the tragedy yesterday. Captain Flinchum and State Police Colonel Steve Flaherty will provide you with the latest information on the investigation, and we'll continue to work with law enforcement agencies to notify family members of the deceased. So, as we do that, and as I know many of you will approach some of these families, please keep in mind the terrible tragedy that they are experiencing.
I have some additional information regarding how the Virginia Tech community will move forward and begin recovery in the next hours and days.
First of all, Virginia Tech will cancel all classes for the remainder of the week to allow students the time they need to grieve and seek assistance as needed. The university will reopen administrative operations beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, April 18th, understanding that some faculty and staff may wish to take additional time off this week to cope with this tragedy and to deal with their fellow colleagues and friends.
We ask individual employees to communicate with their supervisors of their schedules for the balance of the week.
We will close Norris Hall for the remainder of the semester. Staff are currently working to arrange alternative locations for the classrooms and for faculty offices.
Counseling and other resources are available for students, faculty and staff, and students may receive counseling at McComas Hall, and counselors will be available for extended hours. Employees may receive needed support by going to the Brush Mountain room in the Squire's Student Center throughout the day. Now, as you know, the university will be holding a convocation this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum. This is the first time the university community will come together since this tragedy has occurred, and to share our collective sorrow.
President George Bush and first lady Laura Bush, Governor Tim Kaine and Mrs. Kaine, members of our board of visitors, members of the clergy, our students, and poet Nicky Giovanni are going to share some messages of condolences to the family and friends of victims, and words of hope to all of us as we move forward.
Again, we want to encourage all of the members of the Virginia Tech community to attend. Should the coliseum be full, the event we hope will be broadcast on the campus cable station.
I know that the Virginia Tech community and certainly the world at large continues to struggle with these horrible events. And we hope that some of the steps that we're taking today and in the coming days will help that healing process.
Thank you.
CHIEF WENDELL FLINCHUM, VIRGINIA TECH POLICE: I'm Chief Wendell Flinchum, Virginia Tech Police Department.
We have new information to release concerning the ongoing investigation into Monday's fatal shootings.
State, local and federal investigators worked through the night collecting, processing and analyzing evidence from within Norris Hall. I would like to take a minute to recognize the outstanding professionalism and efforts put forth by my officers since that initial 911 call came into our dispatch center Monday morning.
I also want to commend the response and dedication of those officers and investigators from the Blacksburg Police, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, state police, FBI, and ATF, along with other local jurisdictions. Based on their hard work, we have been able to confirm the identity of the gunman at Norris Hall.
That person is Cho Seung-hui. He was a 23-year-old South Korean here in the U.S. as a resident alien.
Cho was enrolled as an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at Virginia Tech. Cho was in the U.S., with residence established in Centreville, Virginia, and was living on campus in Harper Hall.
A 9 millimeter handgun and a .22 caliber handgun were recovered from Norris Hall. Ballistic tests on the evidence seized from Norris Hall and the West Ambler Johnston residence hall scenes were conducted at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lab in Maryland. Lab results confirm that one of the two weapons seized in Norris Hall was used in both shootings. All of the deceased have been transported to the medical examiner's office in Roanoke for examination and identification. The names of the 32 deceased students and faculty will be released once all victims are positively identified and next of kin are notified. Dr. Fiorrot (ph), the chief medical examiner of Virginia, will go into more detail in a minute.
I want to follow up on discussion from yesterday about the person of interest from the first shooting at the residence hall. That individual was an acquaintance of the female victim that was killed at West Ambler Johnston Hall. He was stopped in his vehicle off campus and detained for questioning. As officers were interviewing him, the shootings at Norris Hall were reported. We are still looking to him for information as the investigation continues. We also have no information at this time to relate the on-campus bomb threats made in the last two weeks to either of yesterday's events.
COL. STEVE FLAHERTY (ph): Good morning. I'm Colonel Steve Flaherty. I'm the superintendent of the Virginia state police. First and foremost, I want to state to you that the men and women of the Virginia state police, we have the families, the staff here at Virginia Tech, the law enforcement agencies involved in our thoughts and prayers and hope that you will as well. This is truly, truly a cooperative effort among law enforcement at the Federal, state and local level and you have the agencies represented here, not only in law enforcement, medical examiner's office and staff at Virginia Tech, but you also have agencies that are working beyond Blacksburg and other parts of the state. We want to keep all of those people in mind.
I want you to understand that the scene that we've had to deal with, we've had dozens and dozens of investigators, special agents from various agencies, detectives from various agencies that have been working around the clock on the horrific crime scene. You all have reported that this is the most horrific incident that's occurred on a college campus in our country and the scene certainly bore that out. What went on during that incident certainly caused tremendous chaos and panic in Norris Hall.
As a result, it's greatly complicated our being able to process the scene, if you can imagine, that at the crime scene that personal effects were strewn about the entire second floor at Norris Hall. So it made it much more difficult for us to identify students and faculty members that were victims.
Victims were found in at least four classrooms as well as a stairwell. We know that there were a number of heroic events that took place, students and faculty alike within minutes of this tragedy unfolding. The gunman was discovered among several of the victims in one of the classrooms. He had taken his own life.
Now, I want to further explore just a bit this idea of additional shooters or accomplices or what-not. What has just been reported to you is that the ballistics test says that one of the weapons used in Norris Hall was also used in the AJW shooting. We have not, the evidence has not led us to where we can say with all certainty that the same shooter was involved in both instances. So, we are now exploring that evidence in trying to make that trail. It certainly is reasonable for us to assume that Cho was the shooter in both places, but we don't have the evidence to take us there at this particular point in time.
We also have no evidence to indicate that there's any accomplice at either event. But we are exploring whether or not there was someone that may or may not have helped Cho at any point during his planning or during his execution of this particular event. What we are doing we're doing very carefully, very meticulously, because quite frankly, we have but one chance to get it right. So we're working very hard to make sure that the information we bring you is absolutely accurate. Thank you.
DR. MARCELLA FIERRO (ph): Good morning. I'm Dr. Marcella Fierro. I serve as the chief medical examiner for the commonwealth. First, I would like to say that our staff grieves with Virginia Tech, families, friends and those who survive those who died in the event. We're as heartbroken as they are. I've been asked to speak to the process of what we will be doing with the victims of this crime. We will be working first to confirm the presumptive identifications of the persons who have come to us as well as identify those decedents who are unidentified. This is a process that cannot take place in haste. So, this will take several days. We will be working with the family assistance centers and with families to collect the information needed for identification, as well as working with the police to recover those items that we can use for fingerprints confirmation. This will be a process that takes place over time and I have nothing further to add other than we will work as quickly and as carefully and as efficiently as we can so that families can be assured we have taken care of their child. We will also participate in the recovery of physical evidence that will be used for the reconstruction of this crime.
JOHN MARSHALL, VA SECY OF PUBLIC SAFETY: Good morning. I'm John Marshall, secretary of public safety for commonwealth of Virginia. Governor Cane (ph) was deeply saddened when he received the news about yesterday's tragic events. He continues to keep the victims and their families and the students here at Virginia Tech in his thoughts and prayers. Yesterday afternoon the governor declared a state of emergency directing state agencies to provide whatever resources and equipment that are needed to address the situation. The Virginia state police has been on site since the beginning and remains on site. We just heard from Dr. Fierro and also the Virginia department of emergency management, who's coordinating grief and counseling services along with also coordinating the numerous offers of assistance that we have received from agencies, organizations and associations.
Yesterday we saw once again in Virginia a coordinated, prompt, professional law enforcement response. Virginia Tech police department, the Blacksburg police department, Montgomery County sheriff's office and Virginia state police, the FBI, the ATF, continue to work on the investigation. I think it's important to note that yesterday morning, President Steger and his staff and chief Flinchum (ph) in law enforcement, made the right decisions based on the best information that they had available at the time. Our priority needs to be and our focus needs to remain on the ongoing criminal investigation and most importantly, on dealing with the needs of the victims and their families and the students here at Virginia Tech. Criminal investigations are by their very nature time consuming and that certainly is the case with a crime of this magnitude. As the superintendent said, it's important that we get this done, but more importantly we must get this done right. I want to thank in particular the students here at Virginia Tech and their families along with the faculty and staff for their patience and also for the assistance they have been providing to law enforcement. This is a resilient community here at Virginia Tech, and I have no doubt that under President Steger's leadership, this community will continue to get stronger. But I also want President Steger once again to know that you're not alone. Governor Cane remains committed to providing whatever state resources that are needed to address the needs in particular of the families of the victims and the students here at Virginia Tech. Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Why aren't you taking any questions? (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have a written statement passed out in a minute. Korean name is the last name goes first, that is Cho, spelled C-h-o, the next name, Seung-Hui spelled S-e-u-n-g H-u-i. Their statements are now coming out. Yes, indeed, Cho Seung-Hui.
QUESTION: Are you saying student visa or what kind of --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a resident alien and that should be in -- say again? That's what a resident alien is, right. I'd like to go over a little bit about some logistics. I'll wait until this gets passed out.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we have just heard this press conference that we have been waiting for. We heard from several people including the president of Virginia Tech. We also heard from the police chief of Virginia Tech, and the most important information, obviously now, is the fact that the gunman has been identified. You see his name on the bottom of your screen there pronounced Cho Seung- Hui, 23-year-old English major of Korean decent. Let's go ahead and listen quickly for what he is telling us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Getting together again immediately after the convocation, and I'm trying to schedule a briefing in here sometime, like we did last night, I'm afraid it's going to be right about broadcast time. But if I have more --
COLLINS: All right, just more information about what will be coming next by way of information is being released to the public. Of course we'll stay on top of that for you. In the meantime quickly what you may or may not have heard in case you're just joining us, we learned from the Virginia Tech police chief that there were victims found in four different classrooms. The victim as well was found in a classroom. He had committed suicide, shot himself. There were also other victims found in stairwells. We have learned that apparently ballistics can conclude that the same gun was used over in the first shooting in West Ambler Johnston Hall and then in Norris Hall.
However, they have not yet confirmed that it was the same shooter. We heard the police chief to say that of course that is an assumption that could be made, but no evidence to support that yet. So they are working to confirm that. He said something that I thought was pretty poignant, Tony. He said we have exactly one chance to get it right and that certainly is the case. We also heard Tony, as I know you're going to speak with Mike Robespierre (ph), from the secretary of public safety to say we believe that the president and that leadership team that was meeting in between the hours of 7 and 9 when these shootings were taking place, did the right thing with the information that they had in front of them.
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, Heidi. And as you mentioned we're going to talk to CNN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks (ph). He is here with us on the set in Atlanta. Mike, let's start, you listened to the news conference with me.
MIKE BROOKS: Right.
HARRIS: What did you hear? Are some of the pieces starting to fall into place for you?
BROOKS:I think it is. And we're starting to fill in some of the blanks now Tony. There was a question of the bomb threats, were they connected? We heard that so far there is no link to the bomb threats. Now going back to the evidence that Heidi was just talking about, I know that the weapons were up in the ATF lab last night. They were doing all kinds of different tests on them as well as fingerprint tests. And we know now that one of the weapons was used at both scenes. So we now -- they are saying whether it was the 22 caliber or the .9 millimeter exactly. But also, either one of them, most of them were semiautomatic. So some rounds, some shell casings were probably left at both scenes. So what they are trying to do now, I can tell you as an investigator, what they are trying to do is see if there is any fingerprint evidence at both that would link fingerprint of the person who loaded the magazines, was it the same one at both scenes. They still have not ruled out a second person. So --
HARRIS: Why is that, Mike? If you look at the story as it is unfolding, it seems obvious, and I understand in law enforcement you want to cross the T's, dot the I's but explain to me this hesitation in declaring that we're talking about one shooter and that one shooter killed himself.
BROOKS: As they said in the presser, it's reasonable to think that it was both, but what they need do, they need go back now and they already have, I can guarantee they already have interviewed many, many witnesses, looked at surveillance tapes, what they want to make sure, again, they can only get this right one time. They want to make sure they get everything right initially instead of saying something, then having to go back on it. They want to make sure that there was only one shooter.
Now we heard about this person of interest. That was a big question yesterday. That was a big question mark. But apparently this person of interest, which I don't like the term anyway. I always call it suspect like. This person of interest apparently was an acquaintance of the female victim. So --
HARRIS: In the dormitory.
BROOKS: In the dormitory. And apparently they went ahead, they found this guy, pulled him over near the campus and then he -- then the other shootings were taking place. So initially they weren't saying too much about him. He was not under arrest as of last night, said to me that he was probably helping. He is probably going to help them find out exactly what the motive is. We still have not...
HARRIS: We still don't have a motive.
BROOKS: A firm motive. Yesterday initially they said they believe it was a domestic incident, the shooting at the dormitory. So hopefully this person of interest, the acquaintance of the female, can help fill in some of those blanks to find out what exactly the motive is.
HARRIS: How long to do the ballistics work necessary here to be more conclusive in your determination?
BROOKS: It will probably take at least today. Because we had the serial numbers on these weapons apparently were obliterated. They can go ahead and use an acid and some other techniques to go ahead and raise that, the serial number on the gun to find out when and where they were purchased hopefully. ATF is the best at doing that, I can tell you that from working with them on a lot of different cases. And also the other forensics, it'll take probably until the end of the day. But the ATF lab is the best at what they do, and hopefully we'll hear by the end of the day.
HARRIS: We're interested and hungry for as much information as we can get on this, but practically speaking from a law enforcement standpoint, there is no real reason at this point, if you believe the shooter killed himself and is dead, there is no real reason to rush, is there?
HARRIS: There is no reason to rush. We know who he is. We know he was a resident alien which to me says he has a green card, he was here legally, 23 years old from Centreville, Virginia. That's in Fairfax County just outside of Washington, DC. So, again, trying to fill in all the blanks. We heard from the medical examiner what they are going to try to do also is to reconstruct the scene. They are going to go back and they're going to take look at every single thing that was done
HARRIS: Reconstruct the scene? We're talking about four classrooms and a stairwell.
BROOKS: And those scenes are still shut down. So as the investigation continues, they can say OK, well, let's go back and take a look at something else. Maybe they are missing some evidence. They can go -- I guarantee you, they have done their forensics with a fine tooth comb with ATF, Virginia state, we saw Pulaski County, all different -- a number of law enforcement agencies in that area. What they want to do is they want to keep that isolated and as they develop leads they can go back and say OK, well, maybe we can fit this piece of the puzzle with this, go back. They are going to keep that isolated. That's why you want to try to reconstruct the scene to go back and -- as the information comes in and we fill in these different blanks. Then they can say OK, here is exactly what happened. But that will take some time.
HARRIS: OK. Well, I have a few more questions but let's take a break. Let's reset the scene here in a moment. Mike, if you would stick around and maybe I'll get an opportunity to ask more of these questions of you. Still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, the Virginia Tech tragedy, live shortly with the mayor of Blacksburg. Also the editor of the school's newspaper. Heidi?
COLLINS: We will also have an opportunity, we have just now learned, to be speaking with the president of the student body here at Virginia Tech Adeel Khan. He's going to tell us how kids are feeling and how they are going to begin to move on with their lives so shortly after the biggest tragedy in U.S. history by way of shooting victims. We will learn more about a candlelight vigil where they expect 40,000 people to attend, and come together to help each other through this tragedy. More coming up. You are in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning once again to you everybody. I'm Heidi Collins here on the campus of Virginia Tech where the worst day in this campus's history of course happened yesterday. It began around 7:15 in the morning and continued on, two hours later that we know of. And we're learning more every second about the incidents that happened yesterday, the deaths of 30 students and one gunman. In fact we now know just moments ago, we heard from Virginia Tech police chief the name of the student who is apparently responsible for these shootings. That name -- Cho Seung-Hui, 23-year-old man, English major of Korean descent, again Cho Seung-Hui. His last name is Hui.
Apparently victims were found in four different classrooms. That also is where the gunman was found and also in the stairwell, we heard some of those details in the press conference just moments ago. They have been able to determine that one of the weapons was used in both shootings. However, they have not been able to confirm that it was the same shooter. The police chief telling us that they would assume that that would be the case but they have no evidence to back that up yet and will move forward with their very, very lengthy investigation into yesterday's events.
Beside me I have someone who might be able to give us a better sense of the mood on campus, and most importantly what the students are doing to try to get themselves together and move forward so quickly after such a horrible events. This is Adeel Khan. He is the student body president here at Virginia Tech. Adeel first of all, tell us where you were and how you learned about what happened yesterday.
ADEEL KHAN, STUDENT BODY PRES., VIRGINIA TECH: I was on campus and I was given a call by another member of the student government association, and she told me what had happened. I really couldn't get the full impact until I actually turned on the news and just the situation was just absolutely unbelievable, especially when you associate it with a campus like Virginia Tech which is so peaceful. There is no crime here. We don't -- the local news doesn't have much to report because not much happens as far as crime or anything like that. We don't lock our doors here. I can't describe to you what kind of shock that is especially in a community like this.
COLLINS: What did you want to do at that moment when you heard? Did you feel like you wanted to go and help or go and do something or call all your friends? I just can't imagine what must have gone through you mind.
KHAN: Immediately you call your friends and you find out if they are OK. But I'll tell you that the response of the student body has been absolutely incredible. Immediately I was invited to a chat online in which every student leader on this campus was chatting about what we need to do to start the healing process. Immediately we mobilized over hundreds of students to plan a candlelight vigil for tonight. That will be at 8:00 p.m. on the drill field. We expect over 40,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni to be in attendance. You're really going to see this Hokie nation come together in the next few weeks, in the next few days tonight. It's going to be an incredible response. You're going to see what kind of tight-knit community these Hokies have and just what kind of people that we are. Our motto is (INAUDIBLE) that I may serve and you're going to see us serving one another in the next couple weeks.
COLLINS: Good for you. It's great to hear that. I do wonder, though, is there a sense or is there anybody who has been telling you, you know what, I just -- I can't go to school there any more. This was too tragic for me. It's too scary for me. Or are they possibly more determined than ever to stick around and to make sure that their campus is safe and get their degrees?
KHAN: You'll see among the student body nobody wants to leave. I've been asked by numerous people, are there people leaving this campus? No, we're not. These people are our family. The people who have been hurt are our family. We're going to be there for our family. We're not going to leave this school. This school has done so much for us. We're going to give right back to it. Once again, our motto is that we may serve. We're going to serve this university until the end, until this passes and we -- you don't know how much spirit these students have. And the attachment they have to this school and any alumni you talk to, any student here currently will tell you that this is an anomaly. This doesn't happen. Our university is a close one and very tight knit.
COLLINS: It had to have been incredibly difficult, that being said, to learn as we did just a moment ago, that indeed not only was this a student who committed these crimes, but someone that not a lot of people, at least according to you, knows. Do you know anyone who heard this name or anything about this man?
KHAN: It was very recent that we found out his name and that he was a student here. That's a shock. And it really hurts a lot of students here, but we're not focusing on that. We're focusing on moving forward and starting that healing process and repairing the damage that that student has done to this community. But what we really want to focus on is that that student leadership, that student body trying to step up and show the country what this Hokie nation is made of and what kind of people we are, how much we care about one another. You're going to see that again, once again in the coming weeks.
COLLINS: I have to ask you, though, there has also been a lot of talk about what could have and possibly should have been done after the first incident in West AJ, before the shootings took place in Norris Hall. Any idea what the overall feeling is among your peers as to the response of the police and the decisions that were made with this management team on campus?
KHAN: I'm fully confident that the administration and the faculty here, they're very student oriented and they did everything they could to keep the students in mind in making their decisions. But that's not what we're focusing on here. We're focusing on that healing process and you're going to see student leaders step up and that vigil tonight is going to be that first step in healing this country, healing this community and I really encourage any Hokie alumni across the country to come to that and just to show your support for this Hokie. We expect over 40,000 attendants. It's going to be a great event.
COLLINS: Will you be talking there tonight?
KHAN: I will be speaking at that vigil tonight. So please show your support. We really appreciate it. It's going to be 8:00 p.m. tonight on the drill field, which is the center of campus.
COLLINS: OK, very good. Adeel Khan, president of the student body there at Virginia Tech. Adeel, thanks so much for that and good luck to you.
KHAN: Thank you.
COLLINS: We'll be back in just a minute with CNN NEWSROOM right after this.
Good morning to you once again everybody. I'm Heidi Collins live on the campus of Virginia Tech. It is the morning after a day of horror, the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. It has already been a morning of fast developments. Last hour we learned the identity of the gunman and more about his 32 victims. These are the faces of some of those killed in the gruesome shooting spree.
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