:en:Seung-Hui Cho

Cho was born on January 18, 1984, in the city of Asan, in South Korea's South Chungcheong Province.{{Cite news|date=2007-04-19|title=총기난사 조승희씨 본적 '아산시'|url=http://www.cnews041.com/sub_read.html?uid=728|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404200118/http://www.cnews041.com/sub_read.html?uid=728|archive-date=April 4, 2013|access-date=2007-04-19|work=CNews|location=Ah-San, South Korea|language=ko}} Cho and his family lived in a basement apartment in the city of Seoul for a few years before immigrating to the United States. Cho's father was self-employed as a bookstore owner, but made minimal profits from the venture. Seeking better education and opportunities for his son and daughter,{{Cite news|date=2007-04-18|title=셋방서 이룬 '아메리칸 드림'…주변인 맴돌다 '어이없는 참극'|url=http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/international/america/203923.html|url-status=live|access-date=April 18, 2007|work=The Hankyoreh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428123922/http://hani.co.kr:80/arti/international/america/203923.html |archive-date=April 28, 2007|language=ko }}{{Cite news|date=2007-04-19|title=조승희 외할아버지 "자식들 잘 키우려고 미국까지 갔는데…"|url=http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/international/america/203935.html|url-status=live|access-date=2007-04-19|work=The Hankyoreh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422143158/http://www.hani.co.kr:80/arti/international/america/203935.html |archive-date=April 22, 2007 |language=ko }} Cho's father immigrated to the United States with his family in 1992, when Cho was eight years old. The family lived in Detroit, then moved to the Washington metropolitan area after learning that it had one of the largest South Korean expatriate communities in the U.S. Cho's family settled in Centreville, an unincorporated community in western Fairfax County, Virginia, west of Washington, D.C.{{Cite news|last=Ferenc|first=Leslie|date=2007-04-19|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/04/19/gunman_took_tortured_path_to_massacre.html|title=Gunman took tortured path to massacre|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127001522/https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/04/19/gunman_took_tortured_path_to_massacre.html |archive-date=2020-01-27|work=Toronto Star|access-date=2007-05-09}} Cho's father and mother opened a dry-cleaning business. After they moved to Centreville, Cho and his family became permanent residents of the United States as South Korean nationals.{{Cite news |title=Gunman's violent writings alarmed many |work=WFAA-TV|location=Dallas, TX |date=2007-04-18 |url=http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/041807dnnatvatech.1a36bd32.html |access-date = 2008-09-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080305010128/http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/041807dnnatvatech.1a36bd32.html |archive-date = March 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|last1=Shapira|first1=Ian|last2=Ruane|first2=Michael E.|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041800162_pf.html|title=Student Wrote About Death and Spoke in Whispers, But No One Imagined What Cho Seung Hui Would Do|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2007-04-18|page=A01|access-date=2022-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726032525/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041800162_pf.html|archive-date=2008-07-26|url-status=dead}} His parents became members of a local Christian church, and Cho was raised as a member of the religion,{{Cite news|last=Sang-Hun|first=C.|date=2007-04-20|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/20/america/family.php|title=Relatives in South Korea say Cho was an enigma|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423221635/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/20/america/family.php |archive-date=2007-04-23|work=The International Herald Tribune|access-date=2007-04-30}} although in a note Cho "railed against his parents' strong Christian faith."{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549092/The-roommates-story.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549092/The-roommates-story.html|archive-date=January 11, 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|title=The roommate's story|first=Toby|last=Harnden|date=2007-04-19|access-date=May 23, 2010}}

Some members of Cho's family who had remained in South Korea had concerns about his behavior during his early childhood. Cho's relatives thought that he was selectively mute or mentally ill and have stated in interviews that he rarely spoke or showed affection.{{Cite news |last1=Drogin |first1=Bob |last2=Fiore |first2=Faye |last3=Kang |first3=K. Connie |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-22 |title=Bright Daughter, Brooding Son: Enigma in the Cho Household |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-22-na-cho22-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115040805/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-22-na-cho22-story.html |archive-date=2021-11-15 |access-date=2021-11-15 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last1=McLean |first1=Demian |last2=Shankar |first2=Vivek |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-20 |title=Virginia Tech Strives to Move Beyond Shooting 'Horror,' Reopen |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWNRPV2E2Ams&refer=home |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930060859/https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWNRPV2E2Ams&refer=home |archive-date=2007-09-30 |access-date=2007-04-20 |work=Bloomberg News |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last1=Cho |first1=David |last2=Gardner |first2=Amy |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-21 |title=An Isolated Boy in a World of Strangers |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002366.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720135624/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002366.html |archive-date=2018-07-20 |access-date=2007-04-22 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US}} During an ABC News Nightline interview on August 30, 2007, Cho's grandfather reported his concerns about Cho's behavior during childhood. According to Cho's grandfather, Cho never made eye contact, never called him grandfather, and never moved to embrace him.{{Cite news |last=Moran |first=Terry |date=2007-08-30 |title=Inside Cho's mind: Report shows Virginia Tech made mistakes |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=3541157&page=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530000421/http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3541157 |archive-date=2014-05-30 |access-date=2007-09-02 |work=ABC News |language=en-US}}

Cho attended the Poplar Tree Elementary School in Chantilly, an unincorporated, small community in Fairfax County. An anonymous family acquaintance claimed that "Every time he came home from school he would cry and throw tantrums saying he never wanted to return to school" when Cho first came to the U.S. According to a former fifth-grade classmate of Cho's, Cho finished the three-year program at Poplar Tree Elementary School in one and a half years and was pointed to as a good example by teachers, and was not disliked by other students.{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Hyeon-gu |date=2007-04-20 |title=Childhood friend recalls a different side of Cho |url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2874668 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115045732/https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2874668 |archive-date=2021-11-15 |access-date=2021-11-15 |work=Korea JoongAng Daily |language=en}}

Cho attended two secondary schools in Fairfax County: Ormond Stone Middle School in Centreville and Westfield High School in Chantilly. By the eighth grade, Cho had been diagnosed with selective mutism, a social anxiety disorder that inhibited him from speaking in specific instances and/or to specific individuals.{{Cite news|title=From Disturbed High Schooler to College Killer|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118756463647202374|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|first=Daniel|last=Golden|date=August 20, 2007|access-date=September 16, 2008|archive-date=April 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421185542/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118756463647202374|url-status=live}} He was reportedly bullied for his shyness and unusual speech mannerisms throughout high school, and at least once for his ethnicity.{{Cite news|date=2007-04-19|title=Disgust at Virginia killer's video|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/world/americas/19iht-virginia.4.5357357.html|access-date=2021-11-15|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2021-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115065401/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/world/americas/19iht-virginia.4.5357357.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|title=High school classmates say gunman was bullied|date=2007-04-18 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18169776|access-date=2021-11-19|work=NBC News|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119054127/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18169776|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|title=Va. Tech Is Seen As a Textbook Killer|url=http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=31643|url-status=dead|access-date=2021-11-21|work=Reading Eagle|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119052416/http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=31643 |archive-date=2021-11-19 }}{{Cite news|title=Cho's high school classmates recall 'kid who never spoke'|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/shooter.childhood/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501195055/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/shooter.childhood/|archive-date=May 1, 2007|access-date=2021-11-19|work=CNN}} Other former classmates stated he was a loner who did not seem interested in interacting when teachers or other students tried to include him.{{Cite news|title=Seung-Hui Cho Was My Classmate|url=http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=357119&rel_no=1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011214328/http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=357119&rel_no=1|archive-date=2007-10-11|access-date=2021-11-21|work=OhmyNews International}}{{Unreliable source?|reason=See reliable sources list on WP:KO/RS|date=March 2025}}

During Cho's ninth-grade year in 1999, the Columbine High School massacre made international news. Cho was reportedly transfixed by the news and idolized Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Cho wrote in a school assignment about wanting to "repeat Columbine". The school contacted Cho's sister, who reported the incident to their parents. Cho was sent to a psychiatrist.{{Cite news |last=Neuman |first=Johanna |date=2007-08-31 |title=Report weaves dark tale of gunman's past |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-aug-31-na-vatech31-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114121510/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/31/nation/na-vatech31 |archive-date=2010-11-14 |access-date=2010-05-23 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

File:Seung-Hui Cho's Signature at Westfield High School.jpg signature at Westfield High School ]]

Cho graduated from Westfield High School in 2003.{{Cite journal|last=Murray|first=Jennifer L.|date=April 1, 2017|title=Mass Media Reporting and Enabling of Mass Shootings|journal=Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies|language=en|volume=17|issue=2|pages=114–124|doi=10.1177/1532708616679144|s2cid=151618772|issn=1532-7086}}

Cho was diagnosed with selective mutism.{{Cite magazine|date=April 22, 2007|title=A Family's Shame in Korea|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1613417,00.html|url-status=dead|access-date=September 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070424144208/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1613417,00.html|archive-date=April 24, 2007}}{{Cite news|last=Golden|first=Daniel|date=August 21, 2007|title=From Disturbed High Schooler to College Killer|language=en-US|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118756463647202374|access-date=2021-11-15|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005181622/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118756463647202374|url-status=live}} The Virginia Tech Review Panel report, released in August 2007, placed this diagnosis in the spring of Cho's eighth-grade year; his parents sought treatment for him through medication and therapy.{{Cite web|title= Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel|url=http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport.cfm|access-date=September 16, 2008|format= PDF|publisher=Commonwealth of Virginia|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081001173403/http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport.cfm|archive-date=2008-10-01|url-status= dead|df= mdy-all}} In high school, Cho was placed in special education under the "emotional disturbance" classification. He was excused from oral presentations and class conversation and received speech therapy. He continued receiving mental health therapy as well until the end of his junior year.

According to two of Cho's family members and one family friend, the Cho family had been told that Cho's mutism was due to autism;{{Cite news|date=2007-04-21|title=Virginia Tech shooter 'was autistic'|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/virginia-tech-shooter-was-autistic-20070421-gdpyl6.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-15|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309165826/http://www.smh.com.au/world/virginia-tech-shooter-was-autistic-20070421-gdpyl6.html |archive-date=March 9, 2021 }}{{Cite news|last=Lee|first=Jean H.|date=April 22, 2007|title=Virginia Korean community still reeling|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070422/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_koreans|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428024935/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070422/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_koreans|archive-date=April 28, 2007|access-date=2021-11-15|work=Yahoo! News|agency=Associated Press}} however, no known record exists of Cho being diagnosed with autism. The Virginia Tech Review Panel report states Cho's high school had ruled out an autism diagnosis. A clinical psychologist and expert in selective mutism said that based on Cho's videos, Cho "was not autistic. He clearly had the capability of talking to people." A 2017 paper from The Journal of Psychology states there is "[s]trong evidence suggesting Asperger's syndrome" for Cho.{{Cite journal|last1=Allely|first1=C. S.|last2=Wilson|first2=P.|last3=Minnis|first3=H.|last4=Thompson|first4=L|last5=Yaksic|first5=E.|last6=Gillberg|first6=C.|date=January 2, 2017|title=Violence is Rare in Autism: When It Does Occur, Is It Sometimes Extreme?|journal=The Journal of Psychology|language=en|volume=151|issue=1|pages=49–68|doi=10.1080/00223980.2016.1175998|pmid=27185105|s2cid=39771889|issn=0022-3980|doi-access=free|hdl=2164/6085|hdl-access=free}}

To address his problems, Cho's parents also took him to church. According to a pastor at the Centreville Korean Presbyterian Church, Cho was a smart student who understood the Bible, but the pastor added that he had never heard Cho say a complete sentence. The pastor also recalled telling Cho's mother that he speculated Cho was autistic.{{Cite news|last=Thomas|first=Evan|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/35172/output/print|title=Making of a Massacre|work=Newsweek|date=April 30, 2007|access-date=2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905220149/http://www.newsweek.com/id/35172/output/print|archive-date=September 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}

Federal law prohibited Westfield officials from disclosing any record of disability or treatment without Cho's permission; the officials disclosed none of Cho's speech and anxiety-related problems to Virginia Tech.{{Cite news|last1=Schulte|first1=Brigid|last2=Craig|first2=Tim|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601410_pf.html|title=Unknown to Va. Tech, Cho Had a Disorder|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 27, 2007|page=A01|access-date=2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218013528/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601410_pf.html|archive-date=2007-12-18|url-status=dead}}

In his freshman year at Virginia Tech in 2003, Cho enrolled as an undergraduate major in business information technology.{{Cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Amy |last2=Cho |first2=David |name-list-style=and |date=2007-05-01 |title=Isolation Defined Cho's Senior Year |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501221_pf.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418033131/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/05/AR2007050501221_pf.html |archive-date=2008-04-18 |access-date=2022-07-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A01 |language=en-US}} By his senior year, Cho was majoring in English, intending to become a writer. At the time of the attacks, Cho lived with five roommates in a three-bedroom suite in Harper Hall.{{Cite news|last1=Nolan|first1=Jim|last2=Ress|first2=David|date=2007-04-21|url=http://media.mgnetwork.com/imd/VTShooting/article53.htm|title=Two hours forever changed Virginia Tech|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426060442/http://media.mgnetwork.com/imd/VTShooting/article53.htm |archive-date=2007-04-26 |work=Richmond-Times Dispatch|access-date=2022-07-24|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|last=Maraniss|first=David|date=2007-04-19|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041802824.html|title=That Was the Desk I Chose to Die Under|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A01|access-date=2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418035150/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041802824_pf.html|archive-date=2008-04-18|url-status=dead}}{{Cite magazine |last=Cloud |first=John|date=2007-04-18 |title=The Question Mark in Harper Hall |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1612003,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420030921/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1612003,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-04-20 |access-date=2022-07-24}}

Nikki Giovanni says she taught Cho in a poetry class in the fall of 2005; she says she had him removed from her class because she found his behavior "menacing." She recalled that Cho had a "mean streak" and described his writing as "intimidating."{{Cite news |date=2007-04-18 |title=Killer's manifesto: 'You forced me into a corner' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070421234912/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.shooting/index.html |archive-date=2007-04-21 |access-date=2022-07-24 |work=CNN |language=en-US}} Giovanni reports that Cho wore sunglasses in class and that when she tried to get him to participate in class discussion, Cho remained silent. In Giovanni's class, Cho had intimidated female classmates by photographing their legs under their desks and by writing violent and obscene poetry. In the fall of 2005, Giovanni told the then-department head Lucinda Roy she "was willing to resign before [she] was going to continue with [Cho]." After this, Roy removed Cho from the class.{{Cite news |last=Fernandez |first=Manny |last2=Santora |first2=Marc |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-18 |title=Gunman Showed Signs of Anger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us/18gunman.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120072053/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us/18gunman.html?bl&ex=1177041600&en=406dda3f52cd0455&ei=5087 |archive-date=2016-01-20 |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Roy says that since she found Cho's writings to be very disturbing, she asked for help from the police and the university administration; however, Roy states that the police had "difficulty" since Cho did not make any explicit threat. After Giovanni was informed of the massacre, she remarked that she "knew when it happened that that's probably who it was", and "would have been shocked if it wasn't." Roy had taught Cho in Introduction to Poetry the previous year. She described him as "actually quite arrogant and could be quite obnoxious, and was also deeply, it seemed, insecure"{{Cite news |last=Breed |first=Allen G. |date=April 18, 2007 |others=Contributed by AP |title=Poetry professor who rallied students at memorial service had expelled gunman from class |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/18/poetry_professor_who_rallied_students_at_memorial_service_had_expelled_gunman_from_class/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119041740/http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/18/poetry_professor_who_rallied_students_at_memorial_service_had_expelled_gunman_from_class/ |archive-date=2021-11-19 |access-date=2021-11-19 |work=The Boston Globe |language=en |agency=Associated Press}} and that she told him numerous times to go to counseling. She said that Cho resisted speaking in class and took cell phone pictures of her. After Roy became concerned with Cho's behavior and the themes in his writings, she started meeting with Cho to work with him one-on-one. However, she soon became concerned for her safety, and told her assistant that she would use the name of a dead professor as a duress code, in order to alert the assistant to call security.{{Cite news |last=Kleinfield |first=N.R. |date=2007-04-22 |title=Before deadly rage, a life consumed by a troubling silence |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/us/22vatech.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417194655/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/us/22vatech.html?ei=5087&em=&en=c03fa6dd698cd1dc&ex=1177387200&pagewanted=all |archive-date=2009-04-17 |access-date=2022-07-24 |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en-US}} After Roy notified authorities of Cho's behavior, she urged Cho to seek counseling. Roy described Cho as seeming "extraordinarily lonely",{{Cite news |last1=Potter |first1=Ned |last2=Schoetz |first2=David |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-18 |title=Va. Tech Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3052278 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418031609/http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3052278 |archive-date=2008-04-18 |access-date=2022-07-24 |work=ABC News |language=en-US}} and said that Cho "said to me once he was lonely and didn't have friends."{{Cite news|title=Roommates Give a Glimpse Into the Mind of a Killer|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3052025|url-status=dead|access-date=2022-07-24|work=ABC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901011657/http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3052025|archive-date=September 1, 2007 }}

Other professors were familiar with Cho's disturbing demeanor and recommended that Cho seek counseling. Some professors were not aware until informed by others that Cho had mental health problems and had been reported to the police, afterward speculating that "the information was not accessible" or was "privileged and could not be released."{{Cite news |last1=Schoetz |first1=David |last2=Potter |first2=Ned |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-20 |title=English Professor Went to Dean About Killer |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3060798 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502205714/https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3060798 |archive-date=May 2, 2007 |work=ABC News}}

It is reported that in his first year at Virginia Tech, Cho tried to fit in, but had become very isolated in his last year. During one party, he sat in the corner and repeatedly stabbed the carpet in a girl's room while his roommates were present.{{Cite news|last=Moran|first=Terry|title=Inside Cho's Mind|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3541157|access-date=2021-11-21|work=ABC News|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901155601/http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3541157&page=1|archive-date=September 1, 2007|url-status=live}} Fellow students described Cho as a "quiet" person who "would not respond if someone greeted him." Student Julie Poole recalled that on the first day of a literature class the previous year, the professor found that Cho had written only a question mark instead of his name on a sign-in sheet, so "we just really knew him as the question mark kid."{{Cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6564653.stm | title = The 'loner' behind campus killing | work = BBC News | access-date = September 16, 2008 | date = April 19, 2007 | archive-date = September 9, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080909144619/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6564653.stm | url-status = live }}

Karan Grewal and Joseph Aust, who shared a dormitory suite with Cho, reported that Cho was reclusive and they mutually avoided interacting with him. Both roommates claim Cho had an imaginary girlfriend named "Jelly." Aust notes that during "the last couple weeks" he noticed that Cho's sleep schedule became unusual. Andy Koch and John Eide, who once shared a room with Cho at Cochrane Hall during 2005 and 2006,{{Cite news|last=Thomas|first=Evan|date=April 30, 2007|title=Making of a Massacre|work=Newsweek|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/35172|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216115415/http://www.newsweek.com/id/35172|archive-date=2008-12-16}}{{Cite news|title=Collective Soul's "Shine" Soon To Be Christened Virginia Tech's "Helter Skelter"|url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2007/04/collective_soul.php|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913151741/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2007/04/collective_soul.php|archive-date=September 13, 2008|work=The Village Voice}} state that they were aware of the imaginary girlfriend as well. Koch claimed that Cho, under the influence of alcohol at a party, described "Jelly" as a supermodel living in space.

Koch described other incidents of disturbing behavior. Once, Cho stood in the doorway of his room late at night taking photographs of Koch. Cho repeatedly placed harassing cell phone calls to Koch as "Cho's brother, 'Question Mark'," a name Cho also used when introducing himself to girls. Koch and Eide searched Cho's belongings and found a pocket knife, but they did not find any items that they deemed threatening. Koch also described a telephone call that he received from Cho during the Thanksgiving holiday break from school, during which Cho claimed to be "vacationing with Vladimir Putin" in North Carolina.{{Cite news |last1=Breed |first1=Allen G. |last2=Kahn |first2=Chris |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-22 |title=Those closest to Cho return to school. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042200878.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215122739/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042200878.html |archive-date=2018-12-15 |access-date=2007-05-10 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Koch and Eide, who had earlier tried to befriend him, gradually stopped talking to him and told their friends, especially female classmates, not to visit their room.{{Cite news |date=2007-04-18 |others=Contributed by Associated Press |title=Virginia Tech killer a self-described 'question mark' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/cho.profile/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426044626/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/cho.profile/index.html |archive-date=2007-04-26 |work=CNN}} On one instance, Cho told his roommates he had frightened a girl when he went to her dorm to look her in the eyes; Cho remarked he only found "promiscuity" in her eyes.

Koch and Eide stated that Cho had been involved in two incidents involving two different female students, which resulted in verbal warnings by the Virginia Tech campus police. The two students felt Cho was stalking them, but did not press charges.{{Cite news |last=Tran |first=Mark |date=2007-04-18 |title=Virginia gunman was accused of stalking |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/18/usa.usgunviolence2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124075031/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/18/usa.usgunviolence2 |archive-date=2021-11-24 |access-date=2021-11-24 |work=The Guardian |language=en}} According to Koch, "Question Mark" was Cho's persona online to talk to girls. Koch stated that Cho used to call him on the phone using the alias Question Mark. Koch and Eide state that on at least two occasions, police came to their room to investigate a girl's complaint due to Cho's behavior online. According to Koch, one of these visits, during which the police came at night to Cho and Koch's dorm and banged at the door, was due to Cho's harassment of a female student and talking about suicide online.

The first such alleged incident occurred on November 27, 2005. Cho had contacted through phone calls and in person (by making an unannounced visit to her room) with a female student who notified Virginia Tech Police Department. The police said there were no actual threats of violence in those messages, but were simply annoying.{{Cite news |date=2007-04-18 |title=Cho Was Accused of Stalking in 2005 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9645423}}{{Cite news|last=Reid|first=Tim|date=2007-04-20|title=Series of missed chances that let a potential killer slip through the net|work=The Times|location=London|url=https://www.thetimes.com/best-law-firms/profile-legal/article/series-of-missed-chances-that-let-a-potential-killer-slip-through-the-net-25fbgs2qssr|access-date=2021-11-21|archive-date=2021-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121034029/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/series-of-missed-chances-that-let-a-potential-killer-slip-through-the-net-25fbgs2qssr|url-status=live}} Two uniformed members of the campus police visited Cho's room at the dormitory later that evening and warned him not to contact the student again; Cho complied.{{Cite news|last=Ruane|first=Michael E.|date=April 22, 2007|title='Looking Back . . . We Should Have Done Something'|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101223_pf.html|access-date=2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509194251/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101223_pf.html|archive-date=May 9, 2014|url-status=dead}}

The second alleged incident came to light on December 13, 2005. In the preceding days, Cho had contacted a friend of Koch via AIM and wrote on her door board a line from the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. The young woman was initially unconcerned by the AIM messages and the quotation until she was contacted by Koch via AIM, who informed her of Cho's previous earlier stalking incident and speculated that Cho had schizophrenia.{{Cite news|last=Johnson|first=E.J.|title=Was Va. Tech shooter a stalker?|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18332927|url-status=live|access-date=2022-07-24|work=NBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428005326/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18332927/ |archive-date=April 28, 2007 }} The young woman contacted the campus police, who again warned Cho against further unwanted contact.

Later the same day, Cho sent an e-mail to Koch stating, "I might as well kill myself now." Worried that Cho was suicidal, Koch contacted his father for advice. Both contacted campus authorities. The campus police returned to the dormitory and escorted Cho to New River Valley Community Services Board, the Virginia mental health agency serving Blacksburg.

On December 13, 2005, Cho was taken by police to the psychiatric hospital of New River Valley Community Services Board. There, Crouse, the physician who examined Cho the same day, declared Cho was found "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization." He noted that Cho had a flat affect and depressed mood, and that Cho "denies suicidal ideation" and "does not acknowledge symptoms of a thought disorder." The physician also noted: "His insight and judgment are normal." Cho, suspected of being "an imminent danger to himself or others", was detained temporarily at Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health Center in Radford, Virginia, pending a commitment hearing before the Montgomery County, Virginia district court.{{Cite news |last1=Schulte |first1=Brigid |last2=Jenkins |first2=Chris L. |name-list-style=and |date=2007-05-07 |title=Cho Didn't Get Court-Ordered Treatment |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601403_pf.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510130857/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601403_pf.html |archive-date=2014-05-10 |access-date=2022-07-23 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A01 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Rife|first=Luanne|title=Would Virginia's safety nets catch Cho today?|url=https://roanoke.com/news/education/higher_education/virginia_tech/would-virginia-s-safety-nets-catch-cho-today/article_c24f3ffe-a3cc-5b51-9811-08fc975c0a82.html|access-date=2022-07-23|work=Roanoke Times|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415071056/http://www.roanoke.com/news/education/higher_education/virginia_tech/would-virginia-s-safety-nets-catch-cho-today/article_c24f3ffe-a3cc-5b51-9811-08fc975c0a82.html |archive-date=April 15, 2017|url-status=dead}} On December 14, 2005, Cho was released from the mental health facility; after Cho's release, on the same day Virginia Special Justice Paul Barnett certified in an order that Cho "presented an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness," and ordered treatment for Cho as an outpatient.{{Cite news|title=Campus killer's purchases apparently within gun laws|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/gun.laws/index.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-22|work=CNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517183759/http://edition.cnn.com:80/2007/US/04/19/gun.laws/index.html |archive-date=May 17, 2007 }}{{Cite news |last=Fiegel |first=Eric |date=2009-08-19 |title=Mental health files of Virginia Tech gunman released |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/19/virginia.tech.records/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821131146/http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/19/virginia.tech.records/index.html |archive-date=2009-08-21 |access-date=2022-07-24 |work=CNN |language=en-US}} However, Cho did not receive the treatment which had been ordered, as due to Virginia's health system "[n]either the court, the university nor community services officials followed up on the judge's order".

{{blockquote|Virginia state law on mental health disqualifications to firearms purchases, however, is worded slightly differently from the federal statute. So the form that Virginia courts use to notify state police about a mental health disqualification addresses only the state criteria, which list two potential categories that would warrant notification to the state police: someone who was "involuntarily committed" or ruled mentally "incapacitated".}}

Because Cho was not involuntarily committed to a mental health facility as an inpatient, he was still legally eligible to buy guns under Virginia law.{{Cite news |first=Michael |last=Luo |title=U.S. rules made killer ineligible to purchase gun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21guns.html |work=The New York Times |date=2007-04-21 |access-date=September 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417184341/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21guns.html?pagewanted=print |url-status=live }} However, according to Virginia law, "[a] magistrate has the authority to issue a detention order upon a finding that a person is mentally ill and in need of hospitalization or treatment." The magistrate also must find that the person is an imminent danger to himself or others.{{Cite news|last=Reid|first=Tim|date=2007-04-18|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1671762.ece|title=Killer spent time in mental health unit|work=The Times|place=London|access-date=2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013212151/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1671762.ece|archive-date=2008-10-13|url-status=dead}} Virginia officials and other law experts have argued that, under United States federal law, Barnett's order meant that Cho had been "adjudicated as a mental defective" and was thus ineligible to purchase firearms under federal law; and that the state of Virginia erred in not enforcing the requirements of the federal law.

The Virginia Tech Review Panel report shed light on numerous efforts by Cho's family to secure help for him as early as adolescence. However, when Cho reached 18 and left for college, the family lost its legal authority over him, and their influence on him waned. Cho's mother, increasingly concerned about his inattention to classwork, his classroom absences and his asocial behavior, sought help for him during summer 2006 from various churches in Northern Virginia. According to Dong Cheol Lee, minister of One Mind Presbyterian Church of Washington (located in Woodbridge),{{Cite web|url=http://onemindchurch.org/|title=Official site of Presbyterian Church of Washington|author=One Mind Church|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=January 22, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122083537/http://www.onemindchurch.org/|url-status=live}} Cho's mother sought help from the church for Cho's problems. Lee added that "[Cho's] problem needed to be solved by spiritual power ... that's why she came to our church—because we were helping several people like him." Members of Lee's church even told Cho's mother that he had "demonic power" and needed deliverance. Before the church could meet with the family, however, Cho returned to school to start his senior year at Virginia Tech.

{{Main|Virginia Tech shooting}}{{See also|Timeline of the Virginia Tech shooting#Day of the shooting}}

Around 7:15 a.m. EDT (11:15 UTC) on April 16, 2007, Cho killed two students, Emily J. Hilscher and Ryan C. "Stack" Clark, on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston Hall, a high-rise co-educational dormitory.{{Cite news |title=College gunman disturbed teachers, classmates|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18148802 |work=NBC News |date=2007-04-17 |access-date = September 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501151356/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18148802/|archive-date=May 1, 2011|url-status=dead}} Investigators later determined that Cho's shoes matched a blood-stained print found in the hallway outside Hilscher's room. The shoes and bloody jeans were found in Cho's dormitory room where he had stashed them after the attack.{{Cite news |author=Markon |first=Jerry. |date=2007-08-11 |title=Did Cho Make Dry Run at Va. Tech? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081001023.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614081830/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081001023.html |archive-date=2012-06-14 |access-date=2022-07-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US}}

Within the next two and a half hours, Cho returned to his room to rearm himself; he mailed a package to NBC News that contained pictures, digital video files, and documents.{{Cite news |last=Johnson|first=Alex| url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18195423 | title= Gunman sent package to NBC News| work=NBC News |date=2007-04-19 | access-date = 2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501151333/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18195423/|archive-date=May 1, 2011|url-status=live}} At approximately 9:45 a.m. EDT (13:45 UTC), he then crossed the campus to Norris Hall, a classroom building on the campus where, in a span of nine minutes, Cho shot dozens of people, killing 30 of them.{{Cite news |date=2007-04-25 |title=Virginia Tech rampage lasted just nine minutes. |url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25225812.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216151053/http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25225812.htm |archive-date=2008-12-16 |access-date=2014-09-13 |work=AlertNet |language=en-US |agency=Reuters}} As police breached the area of the building where Cho attacked the faculty and students, Cho killed himself in Norris 211 with a gunshot to his temple.Gelineau, K. (April 23, 2007). {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130115062358/http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/04/23/4113894.html Cho discharged 100 rounds.]}} Canoe Network News (Canada). Retrieved May 6, 2007. The police identified Cho by matching immigration records with the fingerprints on the guns that were used in the shootings. Before the shootings, Cho's only known connection to Norris Hall was as a student in the sociology class, which he attended in a classroom on the second floor of the building. Although police had not stated positively at the time of the initial investigation that Cho was the perpetrator of the Norris Hall shootings and the earlier one at West Ambler Johnston Hall, forensic evidence confirmed that the same gun was used in both shooting incidents.{{Cite news|first=Adam|last=Geller|date=2007-04-18|title=Va. gunman had 2 past stalking cases|work=Newsday|agency=Associated Press|url=http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ustech-side,0,7759008.story|url-status=dead|access-date=September 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509004315/http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ustech-side%2C0%2C7759008.story|archive-date=May 9, 2008}}

Trey Perkins, a student who saw Cho during the killing, reported that Cho was "just without even the slightest emotion on [his] face".

In his manifesto, Cho says he had postponed the attack several times.{{Cite news |last=Windrem |first=Robert |date=2007-04-19 |title=Va. Tech killer's strange 'manifesto' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18187368 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115071707/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18187368 |archive-date=2021-11-15 |access-date=2021-11-15 |work=NBC News |language=en-US}} Cho trained at a gun range up to 3 times before the shooting.{{Cite news |title=Va. Tech Shooter, Victim Linked to Gun Range |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=3099458&page=1 |access-date=2022-08-05 |work=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=August 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805033902/https://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=3099458&page=1 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |title=More Details Emerge About Va. Tech Shooter |url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/va-tech-shooter-visited-same-range-as-cho/1908335/ |access-date=2022-08-05 |work=NBC4 Washington |date=2011-12-11 |language=en-US |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326150648/https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/va-tech-shooter-visited-same-range-as-cho/1908335/ |url-status=live }}

File:Walther P22 Corrected.jpg semi-automatic pistol]]

File:G19 blk grip.jpg semi-automatic pistol]]

During February and March 2007, Cho began purchasing the weapons that he later used during the killings. On February 9, Cho purchased his first handgun, a .22-caliber Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol, from TGSCOM Inc., a federally licensed firearms dealer based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the operator of the website through which Cho ordered the gun.{{Cite news |last=Ross |first=Brian |last2=Esposito |first2=Richard |name-list-style=and |date=April 17, 2007 |title=First Gun Bought March 13; No 'Spur of the Moment' Crime |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/first_gun_bough.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080901003901/http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/first_gun_bough.html |archive-date=September 1, 2008 |access-date=September 16, 2008 |work=ABC News |df=mdy-all}}{{Cite news|url=http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6397876&nav=menu239_6_2|title=Read statement from Green Bay gun dealer.|work=WKBT|access-date=September 13, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220035222/http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6397876&nav=menu239_6_2|archive-date=February 20, 2008}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.wdbj7.com/global/story.asp?s=8945 |title=Shooter had guns more than 1 month before Va. shootings |access-date=September 24, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921104222/http://www.wdbj7.com/global/story.asp?s=8945 |archive-date=September 21, 2008 |work=WDBJ}}{{Cite news |last1=Turque |first1=Bill |last2=Horwitz |first2=Sari |name-list-style=and |date=April 20, 2007 |title=Kaine Gives Panel Latitude to Probe Campus Killings |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041900830_2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026110552/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041900830_2.html |archive-date=2012-10-26 |access-date=September 16, 2008 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} TGSCOM Inc. shipped the Walther P22 to JND Pawnbrokers in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Cho completed the legally required background check for the purchase transaction and took possession of the handgun.{{Cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=4/19/2007&id=22284 |title=Green Bay-based Web site sold gun to Virginia Tech shooter. |date=2007-04-19 |last=Bauer |first=Scott |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929141415/http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=4/19/2007&id=22284 |archive-date=September 29, 2007 }} On March 13, Cho bought his second handgun, a 9 mm Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol, from Roanoke Firearms, a licensed gun dealer located in Roanoke, Virginia.{{Cite news|url=http://wjz.com/homepage/topstories_story_107173020.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195335/http://wjz.com/homepage/topstories_story_107173020.html|archive-date=September 27, 2007 |title=Gun Used In Rampage Traced To Roanoke Shop | work=WJZ-13 Baltimore | date=April 17, 2007 | access-date = September 24, 2008}}

Cho was able to pass both background checks and successfully complete both handgun purchases after he presented to the gun dealers his U.S. permanent residency card, his Virginia driver's permit to prove legal age and length of Virginia residence and a checkbook showing his Virginia address, in addition to waiting the required 30-day period between each gun purchase. He was successful at completing both handgun purchases because he did not disclose on the background questionnaire that a Virginia court had ordered him to undergo outpatient treatment at a mental health facility.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_PurchaseEligibility.shtm|title=Firearms purchase eligibility test.|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=2019-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720111609/http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_PurchaseEligibility.shtm|url-status=dead}}Schulte, Brigid and Horwitz, Sari (April 18, 2007). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041701885.html Weapons purchases aroused no suspicion: Pawnshop, dealer supplied handguns.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112040024/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041701885.html|date=2012-11-12}} The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2007.Barakat, M. (April 20, 2007). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042000167.html Rules should have barred weapon purchase.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121751/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042000167.html |date=2018-12-15 }} The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2007.

On March 22, 2007, Cho purchased two 10-round magazines for the Walther P22 pistol through eBay from Elk Ridge Shooting Supplies in Idaho.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18246522 |title=Tech gunman bought ammo clips on eBay |author1=Geller, A. |author2=Kahn, C. |name-list-style=amp |date=2007-04-21 |access-date=2019-11-10 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806123655/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18246522 |url-status=live }} Based on a preliminary computer forensics examination of Cho's eBay purchase records, investigators suspected that Cho may have purchased an additional 10-round magazine on March 23, 2007, from another eBay seller who sold gun accessories.Geller, A. & Kahn, C. (April 22, 2007). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042200124.html Internet key in probe in Va. Tech gunman.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228210248/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042200124.html |date=2018-12-28 }} The Washington Post. Retrieved April 22, 2007.

Cho also bought jacketed hollow-point bullets, which result in more tissue damage than full metal jacket bullets against unarmored targetsDi Maio, V.J.M. (1999). Gunshot wounds: Practical aspects of firearms, ballistics, and forensic techniques, 2d ed. (p. 380). Boca Raton: CRC Press. {{ISBN|0-8493-8163-0}} by expanding upon entering soft tissue.Somashekhar, S. & Miroff, N. (April 22, 2007). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101219_2.html Injuries heal, but mental scars may last much longer.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422010017/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101219_2.html |date=April 22, 2008 }} The Washington Post. Retrieved May 10, 2007. Along with a manifesto, Cho later sent a photograph of the hollow-point bullets to NBC News with the caption "All the shit you've given me, right back at you with hollow points."Williams, P. (April 19, 2007). [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18209746 Cho prepared in advance for rampage.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806132139/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18209746 |date=August 6, 2020 }} NBC News. Retrieved May 2, 2007.{{Cite news|last1=Fricker|first1=Martin|last2=Parry|first2=Ryan|date=2007-04-19|title=Mass Killer Cho's Insane 'Manifesto'|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mass-killer-chos-insane-manifesto-468306|access-date=2021-11-15|work=mirror|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115071207/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mass-killer-chos-insane-manifesto-468306|url-status=live}}

During the investigation, the police found a note in Cho's room in which he criticized "rich kids", "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans". In the note, Cho continued by saying that "you caused me to do this." Early media reports also speculated that he was obsessed with a female student and became enraged after she rejected his romantic overtures.{{Cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21576271-5001021,00.html |title=Was gunman crazed over Emily? |work=The Daily Telegraph |first1=David |last1=Williams |first2=Stefanie |last2=Balogh |name-list-style=amp |date=2007-04-18 |access-date=September 16, 2008 |archive-date=2008-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216115443/http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21576271-5001021,00.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Ian |date=April 18, 2007 |title=Riddle of 'girlfriend' who was first to die' |url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=3277614 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214053525/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=3277614 |archive-date=2007-12-14 |work=The Scotsman}}{{Cite news

|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23392980-details/Gunman%20shot%20his%20fellow%20students%20three%20times/article.do

|title=Massacre gunman's deadly infatuation with Emily'

|work=Evening Standard

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519110911/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23392980-details/Gunman%20shot%20his%20fellow%20students%20three%20times/article.do

|archive-date=May 19, 2007

}} Law enforcement investigators could not find evidence that Hilscher knew Cho.{{Cite news |last1=Hayasaki |first1=Erika |last2=Fausset |first2=Richard |last3=Schreck |first3=Adam |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-18 |title=A puzzling start to a deadly day |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-18-na-tictoc18-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109001829/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-18-na-tictoc18-story.html |archive-date=2020-11-09 |access-date=2021-11-15 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

The Virginia Tech panel said that by sending the package to NBC, Cho "wanted his motivation to be known, though it comes across as largely incoherent, and it is unclear as to exactly why he felt such strong animosity."

Law enforcement investigators used ballistics tests to determine that Cho fired the Glock 19 pistol during the attacks at the West Ambler Johnston dormitory and at Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus.{{Cite news | agency= Associated Press | url=http://cbs11tv.com/education/local_story_106164729.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927121232/http://cbs11tv.com/education/local_story_106164729.html | archive-date=September 27, 2007 | title=31 Dead In Virginia Tech Shooting | work=CBS 11 | date= April 16, 2007 | access-date = September 24, 2008}}{{Cite news | author1=Fantz, A. | author2=O'Connor, A. | name-list-style=amp | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin | title=Virginia Tech Shooting Kills at Least 33 | work=The New York Times | date=April 16, 2007 | access-date=September 16, 2008 | archive-date=April 16, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416204558/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin | url-status=live }}{{Cite news | author1=Potter, N. | author2=Schoetz, D. | author3=Esposito, R. | author4=Thomas, P. | name-list-style=amp | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3045574&page=1 | title=Police cite person of interest in Va. Tech dorm killing | work=ABC News | date=April 16, 2007 | access-date=September 16, 2008 | archive-date=2008-10-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013210030/http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3045574&page=1 | url-status=live }} Police investigators found that Cho fired more than 170 shots during the killing spree, evidenced by technicians finding at least 17 empty magazines at the scene.{{Cite news |last=Urbina |first=Ian |last2=Fernandez |first2=Manny |name-list-style=and |date=2007-04-20 |title=University explains the return of troubled student |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/us/20virginia.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120072053/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/us/20virginia.html?pagewanted=2 |archive-date=January 20, 2016 |access-date=May 3, 2025 |work=The New York Times}}Markon, Jerry and Horwitz, Sari (April 26, 2007). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500172.html?hpid=topnews Va. Tech gunman fired 170-plus shots.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215230145/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500172.html?hpid=topnews|date=2018-12-15}} The Washington Post. Retrieved April 25, 2007. During the investigation, federal law enforcement investigators found that the serial numbers were illegally filed off on both the Walther P22 and the Glock 19 handguns used by Cho during the rampage.{{Cite news | author=McLean, D. | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agIkGYWe13J8&refer=home | title=Police Find No Link Between Virginia Gunman, Victims | publisher=Bloomberg L.P. | date=April 25, 2007 | access-date=September 16, 2008 }} "Investigators also said that in mid-March, Cho practiced shooting at a firing range in Roanoke, about 40 miles from the campus." According to a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent and ABC consultant, "This was no spur-of-the-moment crime. He's been thinking about this for several months prior to the shooting."

The FBI tracked Cho's credit card transactions and found that he had paid an escort girl one month before the shooting.{{Cite news |title=Hon strippade för massmördaren |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/a/yv5byg |access-date=2022-08-05 |work=Aftonbladet |date=April 25, 2007 |language=sv |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326150654/https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/yv5byg/hon-strippade-for-massmordaren |url-status=live }} The escort stated that she and Cho met at a motel in Roanoke. She said she danced for Cho and decided to leave after 15 minutes, but Cho told her he had paid for a full hour. She stated that she then started dancing again and that thereafter Cho touched her and tried "to get on" her, at which point she pushed him away and Cho respected her wishes. The escort described Cho as "dorky," "timid" and a "little pushy."{{Cite news|title=Report: Cho Hired an Escort Before Rampage|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/VATech/story?id=3071730&page=1|access-date=2021-11-24|work=ABC News|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124075550/https://abcnews.go.com/US/VATech/story?id=3071730&page=1|url-status=live}}

During the investigation, the matter of Cho's court-ordered mental health treatment was also examined to determine its outcome. Virginia investigators learned after a review of Cho's medical records that he never complied with the order for the mandated mental health treatment as an outpatient. The investigators also found that neither the court nor New River Valley Community Services exercised oversight of his case to determine his compliance with the order. In response to questions about Cho's case, New River Valley Community Services maintained that its facility was never named in the court order as the provider for his mental health treatment, and its responsibility ended once he was discharged from its care after the court order. In addition, Christopher Flynn, director of the Cook Counseling Center at Virginia Tech, mentioned that the court did not notify his office that Cho was required to seek outpatient mental health treatment. Flynn added that, "When a court gives a mandatory order that someone get outpatient treatment, that order is to the individual, not an agency ... The one responsible for ensuring that the mentally ill person receives help in these sort of cases ... is the mentally ill person."

As a result, Cho escaped compliance with the court order for mandatory mental health treatment as an outpatient, even though Virginia law required community services boards to "recommend a specific course of treatment and programs" for mental health patients and "monitor the person's compliance." As for the court, Virginia law also mandated that, if a person fails to comply with a court order to seek mental health treatment as an outpatient, that person can be brought back before the court "and if found still in crisis, can be committed to a psychiatric institution for up to 180 days." Cho was never summoned to court to explain why he had not complied with the December 14, 2005, order for mandatory mental health treatment as an outpatient.

The investigation panel had sought Cho's medical records for several weeks, but due to privacy laws, Virginia Tech was prohibited from releasing them without permission from Cho's family, even after his death.{{Cite news|url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/06/protecting_seunghui_chos_priva.html |title=The Shooter Prevails: Protecting Seung-hui Cho's Privacy |access-date=September 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915014945/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/06/protecting_seunghui_chos_priva.html |archive-date=September 15, 2012 }} The panel had considered using subpoenas to obtain his records. On June 12, 2007, Cho's family released his medical records to the panel, although the panel said that the records were not enough.{{Cite news|url=http://media.mgnetwork.com/imd/VTShooting/article107.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620234503/http://media.mgnetwork.com/imd/VTShooting/article107.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 20, 2007|title=Cho's Records Given To Investigating Panel|access-date=September 13, 2014}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.nbc4.com/news/13502717/detail.html|title=Family Releases Seung-hui Cho's Mental Health Records: Panel Chair: Records Have Not Been Fully Examined|work=NBC4 Washington|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=March 5, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305010447/http://www.nbc4.com/news/13502717/detail.html|url-status=live}} The panel obtained additional information by court order.{{Cite news|url=http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6680377&nav=menu368_2 |title=Tech panel obtains records of gunman's mental health hearing |work=WDBJ |access-date=September 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216115429/http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6680377&nav=menu368_2 |archive-date=2008-12-16 }} Cho had been prescribed paroxetine years before the shooting but had been taken off it after one year. The toxicology test from the official autopsy later showed that neither psychiatric nor any kind of illegal drugs were in his system during the time of the shooting.{{Cite news|last=Reed|first=Williams|date=June 22, 2007|title=No drugs found in Cho's body|url=https://roanoke.com/archive/no-drugs-found-in-chos-body/article_26ac1869-5720-56f1-8c7b-2df44165b1be.html|access-date=2022-07-23|work=Roanoke Times|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515211222/http://www.roanoke.com/vtinvestigation/wb/121693|archive-date=2008-05-15|url-status=live}}

In August 2009, Virginia Tech released its medical records of Cho, along with those found in July 2009, to the public.{{Cite news|url=https://richmond.com/news/opinions-differed-on-chos-dangerousness/article_cef5dfa1-b89b-54fa-a098-20b1a8fed448.html|title=Opinions differed on Cho's dangerousness|last=Green|first=Frank|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=August 20, 2009|access-date=2022-07-23|archive-date=August 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801104530/https://richmond.com/news/opinions-differed-on-chos-dangerousness/article_cef5dfa1-b89b-54fa-a098-20b1a8fed448.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Friedman|first=Emily|date=August 19, 2009|title=Va. Tech Shooter Seung-Hui Cho's Mental Health Records Released|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/seung-hui-chos-mental-health-records-released/story?id=8278195|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-15|work=ABC News|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221085012/http://abcnews.go.com:80/US/seung-hui-chos-mental-health-records-released/story?id=8278195 |archive-date=2012-12-21 }}

In the aftermath of the killing spree, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine appointed a panel to investigate the campus shootings, with plans for the panel to submit a report of its findings in approximately two to three months. Kaine also invited former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to join the panel to "review Cho's mental health history and how police responded to the tragedy."Ferguson, B. (April 20, 2007). [http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=95226&d=20&m=4&y=2007 Killer video haunts campus.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526141739/http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=95226&d=20&m=4&y=2007 |date=May 26, 2007 }} Arab News (Saudi Arabia). Retrieved May 3, 2007. To help investigate and analyze the emergency response surrounding the Virginia Tech shooting, Kaine hired TriData Corporation, the same company that investigated the Columbine High School massacre.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402267.html|title=State taps firm that handled probe of Columbine shootings.|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=2014-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714165223/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402267.html|url-status=live}}

The panel's final report devoted more than 20 pages to detailing Cho's mental health history. The report criticized Virginia Tech educators, administrators and mental health staff in failing to "connect the dots" from numerous incidents that were warning signs of Cho's mental instability beginning in his junior year. The report concluded that the school's mental health systems "failed for lack of resources, incorrect interpretation of privacy laws, and passivity." The report called Virginia's mental health laws "flawed" and its mental health services "inadequate". The report also confirmed that Cho was able to purchase two guns in violation of federal law because of Virginia's inadequate background check requirements.

An addendum to the report was published in November 2009; an updated version of the addendum was published in December of the same year.{{Cite book|last=Kapsidelis|first=Thomas P.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9TN6DwAAQBAJ&dq=Virginia+Tech%3A+Addendum+to+the+Official+Report&pg=PT308|title=After Virginia Tech: Guns, Safety, and Healing in the Era of Mass Shootings|date=April 16, 2019|publisher=University of Virginia Press|isbn=978-0-8139-4223-0|language=en|chapter=Notes|access-date=2021-12-04|archive-date=March 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315154616/https://books.google.com/books?id=9TN6DwAAQBAJ&dq=Virginia+Tech:+Addendum+to+the+Official+Report&pg=PT308|url-status=live}}

The records of the panel were released in July 2017.{{Cite web|last=Christman|first=Roger|date=2017-07-19|title=The Library of Virginia Releases Virginia Tech Review Panel Records|url=https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2017/07/19/the-library-of-virginia-releases-virginia-tech-review-panel-records/|access-date=2021-11-15|website=The UncommonWealth|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115133101/https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2017/07/19/the-library-of-virginia-releases-virginia-tech-review-panel-records/|url-status=live}}

Cho's older sister prepared a statement on her family's behalf to apologize publicly for her brother's actions, in addition to lending prayers to the victims and the families of the wounded and killed victims.{{Cite news|work=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/shooting.family.statement/index.html|title=Cho family statement|access-date=2022-07-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423105635/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/shooting.family.statement/index.html|archive-date=April 23, 2007|url-status=dead}} "This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person," she said in the statement issued through a North Carolinian attorney. "We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence." Cho's grandfather stated, "My grandson Seung-Hui was very shy. I can't believe he did such a thing."{{Cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3053832 |title=The Facts of the Virginia Massacre |work=ABC News |date=April 18, 2007 |access-date=2008-09-16 |archive-date=2014-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525213407/http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3053832 |url-status=live}}

In a 2008 article marking the anniversary of the massacre, The Washington Post did a follow-up on the family, reporting that they had gone into hiding for months following the massacre and, after eventually returning home, had "virtually cut themselves off from the world." Several windows in their home have been papered over and drawn blinds cover the rest. The only real outside contact they have maintained is with an FBI agent assigned to their care and their lawyer, refusing even to contact their own relatives in South Korea.{{Cite news |last1=Somashekhar |first1=Sandhya |last2=Horwitz |first2=Sari |name-list-style=and |date=April 12, 2008 |title=A Year After Massacre, Family Lives 'in Darkness' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041104103_pf.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112040057/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041104103_pf.html |archive-date=2012-11-12 |access-date=2022-07-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=A01}}

File:Cho Seung-hui NBC.jpg coverage of several videos Seung-Hui Cho sent to NBC News]]

File:ChoSh.jpg

During the time period between the two shooting events on April 16, Cho visited a local post office near the Virginia Tech campus where he mailed a parcel with a DVD inside to the New York headquarters of NBC News, which contained video clips, photographs and a manifesto explaining the reasons for his actions.{{Cite news |date=April 19, 2007 |title=Gunman mailed package between shootings |url=http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=5220434 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216115051/http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=5220434 |archive-date=2008-12-16 |work=abclocal}} The package was apparently intended to be received on April 17, but was delayed by one day because of an incorrect ZIP code and street address.{{Cite news |date=2007-04-19 |title=Virginia gunman sent final video |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6570241.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122023644/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6570241.stm |archive-date=2021-11-22 |access-date=2021-11-22 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Matea |date=2007-04-19 |title=Gunman handed NBC an exclusive and a quandary |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-19-na-nbc19-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122024114/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-19-na-nbc19-story.html |archive-date=2021-11-22 |work=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

The name of the sender on the package according to NBC News was "A. Ishmael" (or "Ismael" according to The New York Times{{Cite news |last=Hauser |first=Christine |date=2007-04-18 |title=Gunman Sent Photos, Video and Writings to NBC |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us/18cnd-virginia.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705155713/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us/18cnd-virginia.html |archive-date=2022-07-05 |access-date=2022-07-23 |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en-US}}). According to NBC News, the words "Ismail Ax" (or "Ismail-Ax" in red ink according to ABC News,{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Eric |date=2007-04-18 |title='Ismail-Ax': Breaking the Riddle |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3053904&page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813095121/https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3053904&page=1 |archive-date=2020-08-13 |access-date=2020-06-28 |work=ABC News |language=en-US}} "Ismail Ax" in red ink according to The Times) were scrawled on one of Cho's arms. It was reported a few days after the package was received that "the Internet is abuzz with speculation about the meaning of the phrase 'Ismail Ax' on Cho's arm, 'A. Ishmael' on the package and 'axishmiel' on [a] file [contained in the package sent to NBC]".{{Cite news |last=Felberbaum |first=Michael |date=2007-04-21 |title=Internet Abuzz Over 'Ismail Ax' Meaning |url=http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=32090 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123045141/http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=32090 |archive-date=2021-11-23 |access-date=2021-11-23 |work=Reading Eagle |language=en-US |agency=Associated Press}}

One hypothesis is that "Ismail Ax" represents divine retribution in reference to the Islamic belief that Abraham, the father of Ishmael, broke some idols with his axe to abolish idol worship,{{Cite news |last=Kim |first=Rahn |date=2007-04-18 |title=What Is 'Ismail Ax?' |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/11/113_1223.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123044442/https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/11/113_1223.html |archive-date=2021-11-23 |access-date=2021-11-23 |work=The Korea Times |language=en}} or to the Islamic belief that God asked Abraham to sacrifice the innocent Ishmael; no one reported Cho was Muslim,{{Cite magazine |last=Poulsen |first=Kevin |date=2007-04-17 |title=Cho Seung-Hui Left No Clues Online? -- Updated |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/04/cho-seunghui-le/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123050726/https://www.wired.com/2007/04/cho-seunghui-le/ |archive-date=2021-11-23 |access-date=2021-11-23 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}} and he refers to himself in Christian terms and refers to Jesus being hung on a cross which is not part of Islamic beliefs.

Another hypothesis for the name "Ismail-Ax" is that it could be a reference to Drum Hadley's poem "The Goat Ranchers" which talk about "Ishmael's Ax". Other hypothesis are that "Ishmael", "Ishmael Ax" and "axishmiel" was a reference to Ishmael the narrator of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, or to a set of books by Daniel Quinn that features a gorilla named Ishmael that examines humankind. It has also been suggested Ismail Ax refers to Ishmael Bush, the hero of James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Prairie.

It was also suggested "Ishmael", "Ishmael Ax" and "axishmiel" could refer to Ismail Ak, a professor of psychiatry at a Turkish university whose studies include psychiatry of anti-social and suicidal behavior.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} "Among the other suggestions were anagrams that referred to the ancient punishment of pouring salt on fields that made them incapable of growing crops, a Bob Marley song called 'Small Axe,' and a technology called 'AxisMail' that lets users have e-mail messages sent to their cell phones." It was also theorized that "Ismail-Ax" was a reference to the meaning of "Ishmael" which is "exile" or "outcast" according to Webster's dictionary. Another theory is that "Ismail Ax" referred to a XboxLive (XBL) handle, but an XBL search made at the time did not find any such handle.

In his PDF mailed to NBC, Cho states: "Children of Ishmael, Crusaders of Anti-Terrorism, my Jesus Christ Brothers and Sisters - you're in my heart. ... I saw {{sic}} we take up the cross, Children of Ishmael, take up our guns, and knives and any sharp object, and spare no lives until our last breath and last ounce of energy. ... I am Ax Ishmael. I am the Anti-Terrorist of America".{{Cite web |title=Seung Hui Cho's 'Manifesto' |url=https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/cho_manifesto_1.1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722010216/https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/cho_manifesto_1.1.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-22 |website=School Shooters .info |language=en-US}}

Upon receiving the package on April 18, 2007, NBC News contacted authorities and made the controversial decision to publicize Cho's communications by releasing a small fraction of what it received.{{Cite news |last=Apuzzo |first=Matt |date=2007-04-18 |title=Va. gunman sent videos and photos to NBC |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIRGINIA_TECH_SHOOTING?SITE=VAROA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-04-16-11-02-48 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419045842/http://hosted.ap.org:80/dynamic/stories/V/VIRGINIA_TECH_SHOOTING?SITE=VAROA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-04-16-11-02-48 |archive-date=2007-04-19 |access-date=2022-07-24 |work=The Roanoke Times |language=en-US |agency=Associated Press}}{{Cite news |last=Perez-Pena |first=Richard |date=2007-04-21 |title=Media outlets ease off video killer, but not because of complaints, they say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21backlash.html?pagewanted=print |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417194745/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21backlash.html?pagewanted=print |archive-date=2009-04-17 |access-date=2007-05-10 |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Gershberg |first=Michele |date=2007-04-19 |title=Media dilemma deepens over Virginia gunman video |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-shooting-media-idUSN1944056920070419 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115064029/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-shooting-media-idUSN1944056920070419 |archive-date=2021-11-15 |access-date=2021-11-15 |work=Reuters |language=en}} After pictures and images from the videos were broadcast in numerous news reports, students and faculty from Virginia Tech, along with relatives of victims of the campus shooting, expressed concerns that glorifying Cho's rampage could lead to copycat killings. The airing of the manifesto and its video images and pictures was upsetting to many who were more closely affected by the shootings: Peter Read, the father of Mary Read, one of the students who were killed by Cho during the rampage, asked the media to stop airing Cho's manifesto.{{Cite news |date=2007-04-20 |title=Killer's images 'a second assault on us' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/vtech.shooting/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210174332/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/vtech.shooting/index.html |archive-date=2007-12-10 |access-date=2022-07-24 |work=CNN |language=en-US}}

Police officials, who reviewed the video, pictures and manifesto, concluded that the contents of the media package had marginal value in helping them learn and understand why Cho committed the killings.{{Cite news |last=Macklin |first=W. |date=2007-04-19 |title=Police Find Marginal Value In Killer's Manifesto; VA Tech Will Confer Degrees On Victims |url=http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007094105 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929111551/http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007094105 |archive-date=2007-09-29 |access-date=2007-04-19 |work=AHN Media Corp |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Apuzzo |first=Matt |date=2007-04-20 |title=Va. Tech Shooter a 'Textbook Killer' |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VIRGINIA_TECH_SHOOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420045344/http://hosted.ap.org:80/dynamic/stories/V/VIRGINIA_TECH_SHOOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |archive-date=2007-04-20 |access-date=2022-07-24 |agency=Associated Press |language=en-US |quote=University officials said that all of Cho's student victims would be awarded degrees posthumously, and officials are outlining a way to let students complete their courses, possibly by allowing their work to this point in the semester count as completed.}} Michael Welner, who also reviewed the materials, believed that Cho's rantings offer little insight into the mental illness that may have triggered his rampage.{{Cite news|first=Kari|last=Huus|date=2007-04-20|title=Reading between Cho's lines|work=NBC News|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18221031|access-date=September 16, 2008|archive-date=2015-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223021411/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18221031/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news |date=2007-04-19 |title=Psychiatrist: Showing Video Is 'Social Catastrophe' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/VATech/story?id=3056168&page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927230651/http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/VATech/story?id=3056168&page=1 |archive-date=2008-09-27 |access-date=2008-09-16 |work=ABC News}}{{Cite news |date=2007-04-20 |title=Experts Speak Out: Seung-Hui Cho's Video 'Manifesto' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/VATech/story?id=3057966&page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418045020/http://abcnews.go.com/Health/VATech/story?id=3057966&page=1 |archive-date=2008-04-18 |access-date=2008-09-16 |work=ABC News |language=en-US}} Welner stated that "[t]hese videos do not help us understand Cho. They distort him. He was meek. He was quiet. This is a PR tape of him trying to turn himself into a Quentin Tarantino character."

During the April 24, 2007, edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC News president Steve Capus stated NBC decided to air 2 minutes and 20 seconds of the 25 minutes of videos it received and just 37 sentences of the 23 pages of writings.{{Cite news |date=2007-11-20 |title=Tragedy at Virginia Tech |url=http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20070424/4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326150651/https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/tragedy-at-virginia-tech_2/4 |archive-date=2023-03-26 |access-date=2008-09-24 |work=Oprah.com |language=en-US}}

Cho's package contained what the NBC called a "multimedia manifesto": a DVD, along with "a printout of a .pdf file". This printout's PDF file was contained in the DVD with the file name 'axishmiel': Cho's 1,800-word, 23-page manifesto which also contained 43 photographs of Cho. Along with this file, the DVD also contained two Microsoft Word files, a six-minute audio .avi file, and 27 QuickTime video clips.

The PDF had been last modified on April 16 at 7:24 a.m., "minutes after he had shot and killed his first two victims, and nearly two hours before he went on his second rampage." The Microsoft Word files "were drafts of the two sections of the manifesto, which he had written earlier, one being last modified on April 13 at 3:45 p.m. and on April 15 at 8:22 a.m. The sole .avi file of him reading the manifesto, titled 'letter1' was recorded even earlier, at 9:40 a.m. on April 10, a full six days before the massacre." The 27 QuickTime videos together total 24 minutes and are "ranging in length from 16 seconds to six minutes". The titles of those other video clips "are varied and hard to match with their content: 'all of You,' 'am al qaeda,' 'anti terror,' 'as time appr,' 'blood of inno,' 'congrad,' 'could b victim.' The rambling comments are those of an angry young man who felt persecuted, who felt that the world is against him, who felt he was a victim of personal terrorism." Five of the videos are titled "end," "end 1," "end 2," "end car" and "end some life." Those five seem "to be among the last recorded, perhaps between the shootings." In those five videos, Cho "addresses no one by name ..., although he does seemingly address Virginia Tech students in two as 'brats' and 'snobs' with 'Mercedes' and 'trust funds.{{' "}}{{Cite news |last=Sturcke |first=James |date=2007-04-19 |title=Video excerpts of Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-hui |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/19/usgunviolence.usa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126044202/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/19/usgunviolence.usa |archive-date=2021-11-26 |access-date=2021-11-26 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB}}

In his manifesto, Cho mentioned the Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and also makes references to hedonism and Christianity while expressing anger about unspecified wrongs that were done to him.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=M. Alex |date=2007-04-19 |title=Gunman sent package to NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18195423 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210011439/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18195423 |archive-date=2013-02-10 |access-date=2007-04-19 |work=NBC News |url-status=live |language=en-US}}

Pete Williams, an MSNBC justice correspondent, said that Cho lacked logical governance, suggesting that Cho was under severe emotional distress.Borowsky, S. (April 26, 2007). [http://www.thebreeze.org/2007/04-26/op5.html Breeze perspectives: The mystery of a madman.] The Breeze (student newspaper of James Madison University). Retrieved May 7, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529051734/http://www.thebreeze.org/2007/04-26/op5.html |date=2007-05-29 }} In the video, Cho also railed against deceitful charlatans on campus, "rich kids," materialism, and hedonism, saying: "Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?"

In one of his videos, "[Cho] repeatedly suggests he was picked on or otherwise hurt", saying: "You have vandalised my heart, raped my soul and tortured my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic more life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people." On another instance, Cho mentions "martyrs like Eric and Dylan".{{Cite news |date=2007-04-18 |title=Shooter: 'You have blood on your hands' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vtech.nbc/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519010802/http://www.cnn.com:80/2007/US/04/18/vtech.nbc/index.html |archive-date=2007-05-19 |access-date=2022-07-24 |work=CNN |language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Westcott|first=Kathryn|date=2007-04-19|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6567143.stm|title=Cho fits pattern of campus killers|work=BBC News|access-date=2022-07-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812011541/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6567143.stm|archive-date=August 12, 2007}} Cho also stated in the videos: "You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option."{{Cite news |date=2007-04-19 |title=In quotes: Virginia gunman's message |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6570369.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510152622/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6570369.stm |archive-date=2007-05-10 |access-date=2021-11-24 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}

One of Cho's roommates, Karan Grewall, stated the place where Cho's videos were taken "looks exactly like our common areas where we hang out every day. I can't be sure, but the walls look exactly like our suite."

According to the Virginia Tech report, Cho "seemed to enjoy the idea of writing, especially poetry," and he attempted to get a book published while in college. After the mass shooting, a former classmate of Cho provided AOL with two plays written by Cho. An AOL official said the authenticity of the plays was verified by AOL before they were posted online.{{Cite web |date=2007-04-17 |title=Cho Seung-Hui's Plays |url=http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430141956/http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/ |archive-date=2007-04-30 |access-date=2021-11-15 |website=News Bloggers}} The plays included Richard McBeef{{Cite news|title=Cho Seung-Hui's play, 'Richard McBeef'|url=http://news.aol.com/virginia-tech-shootings/cho-seung-hui/_a/richard-mcbeef-cover-page/20070417134109990001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428084556/http://news.aol.com/virginia-tech-shootings/cho-seung-hui/_a/richard-mcbeef-cover-page/20070417134109990001|archive-date=2007-04-28|access-date=2021-11-22|work=AOL News}} and Mr. Brownstone, both written in 2006.{{Cite web|last=Cho|first=Seung-Hui|url=http://news.aol.com/virginia-tech-shootings/cho-seung-hui/_a/mr-brownstone-title-page/20070417141309990001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420075834/http://news.aol.com/virginia-tech-shootings/cho-seung-hui/_a/mr-brownstone-title-page/20070417141309990001|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-04-20|title=Mr. Brownstone|work=AOL News|access-date=2007-04-17}}Plummer, K. & Carricaburu, J. (April 18, 2007). [http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=70750 Virginia Tech killer named play after Guns N' Roses song "Mr. Brownstone."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420025909/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=70750 |date=2007-04-20 }} Retrieved on April 19, 2007.[http://timesonline.typepad.com/video/2007/04/mr_brownstone.html Clip joint: Mr. Brownstone.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422034445/http://timesonline.typepad.com/video/2007/04/mr_brownstone.html |date=April 22, 2007 }} (April 18, 2007). The Times Online (UK). Retrieved May 10, 2007.

Approximately one year before the incident at Virginia Tech, Cho wrote a paper for an assignment in an "Intro to Short Fiction" class. In that paper, Cho wrote about a mass school murder that was planned by the protagonist of the story. In the story, the protagonist did not follow through with the killings. During the proceedings of the Virginia Tech panel, the panel was unaware of the existence of the paper written by Cho.{{Cite news |last=Horwitz |first=Sari |date=2007-08-29 |title=Paper by Cho exhibits disturbing parallels to shootings, sources say |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801948.html?nav=hcmodule |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121741/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801948.html?nav=hcmodule |archive-date=2018-12-15 |access-date=2007-08-29 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Additionally, in March 2006 at Virginia Tech's 22nd Annual Research Symposium and Exposition, Cho submitted a poem titled "Spear me down, Heaven" to the Advanced Undergraduate category. The poem included violent lines including a "wish to annihilate my self" and "tear me to shrivels, eat me to help me".{{Cite news |last1=Gangloff |first1=Mike |last2=Adams |first2=Duncan |name-list-style=and |date=August 29, 2007 |title=Cho poem was entry in 2006 Virginia Tech event |url=https://roanoke.com/archive/cho-poem-was-entry-in-2006-virginia-tech-event/article_b864ad17-c4eb-550e-aa1b-c9939385a284.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515193233/http://www.roanoke.com/vtinvestigation/wb/129853 |archive-date=2008-05-15 |access-date=2022-07-21 |work=The Roanoke Times}}

When information surfaced about the paper, the Virginia Tech panel learned at that time that only the Virginia State Police and Virginia Tech had copies of the unreleased paper in their possession. The Virginia State Police reported that, although it had a copy of the paper, Virginia law prevented them from releasing the paper to the panel because it was part of the investigative file in an ongoing investigation. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, had known about the paper, and officials at the school discussed the contents of the paper among themselves in the aftermath of the shootings. According to Governor Kaine, "[Virginia Tech] was expected to turn over all of Cho's writings to the panel" during the proceedings of the Virginia Tech panel. After some members of the Virginia Tech panel complained about the missing paper, Virginia Tech decided to release a copy of the paper to the panel during the latter part of the week of August 25, 2007.

Edward Falco, a playwriting professor at Virginia Tech, has acknowledged that Cho wrote both the released plays in his class. Falco said of the plays: "They're not good writing. But they are at least a form of communication. And in his responses to the other students' plays, he could be quite articulate."{{Cite news | first=Jonathan | last=Mandell | title='Cho's Professor to Classmates: Don't Feel Guilty | url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vatech.professor/index.html | work=CNN |date=2007-04-18 |access-date=2007-04-18 |archive-date=2007-04-26 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426070045/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/18/vatech.professor/index.html | url-status=live }} Another professor who taught Cho characterized his work as "very adolescent" and "silly", with attempts at "slapstick comedy" and "elements of violence".{{Cite news|last1=Wingert|first1=Pat|last2=Waddell|first2=Lynn|last3=Campo-Flores|first3=Arian|date=2007-04-16|title=Va. Tech Shooting: Portrait of a Killer|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18161472/site/newsweek/|access-date=2022-07-24|work=Newsweek|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419123205/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18161472/site/newsweek/|archive-date=2007-04-19}} Classmates believed "the plays were really morbid and grotesque."{{Cite news|first=T. Rees|last=Shapiro|url=http://www.collegiatetimes.com/416archive/423.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505025136/http://www.collegiatetimes.com/416archive/423.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-05-05|title=Cho's classroom colleague reacts to tragedy|date=2007-04-17|work=Collegiate Times|access-date=2007-04-19}}

According to CBS News, "Cho Seung-Hui's violent writing [and] loner status fit the Secret Service shooter profile,"{{Cite news |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/warning-signs-from-student-gunman/|title= Warning Signs From Student Gunman|date=2007-04-17|work= CBS News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520165540/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/17/eveningnews/main2696236.shtml|archive-date=2007-05-20|access-date=2022-07-24|url-status=live}} referring to a 2002 U.S. Secret Service study that was conducted after the Columbine massacre, with violent writing cited as one of the most typical behavioral attributes of school shooters. The U.S. Secret Service concluded the study by saying that "[t]he largest group of [school shooters] exhibited an interest in violence in their own writings, such as poems, essays or journal entries," while school shooters' interest in other violent media was generally low.{{Cite web|url= http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf|title= Safe School Initiative Final Report|page= 26|last= Vossekuil|first= Bryan|date=May 2002|publisher= U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education|display-authors= etal|access-date=2007-04-26|archive-date= June 13, 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070613234342/http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf|url-status= dead}}

Something Awful created a parody "CliffsNotes" entry describing Richard McBeef.{{Cite web|url=http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/richard-mcbeef.php|title=Something Awful: Richard McBeef|work=Something Awful|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=January 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115184635/http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/richard-mcbeef.php|url-status=live}}

A teenager who intentionally set fire to a classroom (no deaths) in South Korea in 2015 said he "wanted to leave behind a record like Cho Seung-hui."{{Cite news|title=Graphic online culture debated after teen's arrest|url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2015/09/03/socialAffairs/Graphic-online-culture-debated-after-teens-arrest/3008768.html|access-date=2021-11-28|work=Korea JoongAng Daily|date=September 3, 2015|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128031617/https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2015/09/03/socialAffairs/Graphic-online-culture-debated-after-teens-arrest/3008768.html|url-status=live}}

It was reported in 2015 that some South Korean internet users glorified the Virginia Tech killings and affectionately called Cho "General Cho".{{Cite news|last=손 |first=국희|date=September 3, 2015|script-title=ko:"조승희 장군이 그립습니다"…막 나가는 증오 범죄 미화|url=https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/18589210|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-28|work=중앙일보|language=ko|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128031253/https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/18589210 |archive-date=2021-11-28 }} In 2017, after the United Express Flight 3411 incident was reported, numerous people on the South Korean internet commemorated Cho, saying for example "I miss General Cho Seung-Hui". It is from the DC Inside forum in 2014 that came the idea of calling Cho a "general" of the "battle of Virginia" (the name given by the forum to the Virginia Tech killings); the forum hailed Cho as a hero against racism toward Koreans. The nickname "general" stemmed from the idea that Cho killed numerous people despite only being one person, thus making him an apparent genius tactician. Over the years, Cho became a symbol of resistance against what Korean internet users perceived as anti-Korean racism, on any subject.{{Cite news|date=2017-04-14|title=' '제너럴 조'가 그립습니다'... 유나이티드 항공 사건 터지자 사람들이 '조승희' 찾는 이유는|url=https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/04/14/2017041402236.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-28|work=조선일보|language=ko|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128032320/https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/04/14/2017041402236.html |archive-date=2021-11-28 }}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Roy |first=Lucinda |url= |title=No right to remain silent: the tragedy at Virginia Tech |date=2009 |publisher=Harmony Books |isbn=978-0-307-40963-8 |location=New York |oclc=233939406 |author-link=Lucinda Roy}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Song |first=Min Hyoung |title=Communities of Remembrance: Reflections on the Virginia Tech Shootings and Race |journal=Journal of Asian American Studies |date=February 2008 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1353/jaas.2008.0006 |s2cid=144959788 |issn=1096-8598}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Wesley |year=2009 |title=The Face of Seung-Hui Cho |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44363543 |journal=Creative Nonfiction |issue=37 |pages=99–120 |jstor=44363543 |issn=1070-0714}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Jennifer L. |date=January 2017 |title=Mass Media Reporting and Enabling of Mass Shootings |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532708616679144 |journal=Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=114–124 |doi=10.1177/1532708616679144 |s2cid=151618772 |issn=1532-7086}}
• {{Cite news |date=2017-04-17 |title=Virginia Tech marks 10 years after shooting that killed 32 |url=https://apnews.com/article/241631d7507542379bba731d55a28567 |work=Associated Press}}
• {{Britannica|id=2082181|title=Virginia Tech shooting}}

• {{Cite news|url=http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/04/17/warrant.pdf|title=Commonwealth of Virginia search warrant for 2121 Harper Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia for dormitory residence of Seung-hui Cho (April 16, 2007)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070421071357/http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/04/17/warrant.pdf|archive-date=2007-04-21|work=CNN}} {{small|(859 KB)}}
• {{Cite web|date=August 2007|title=Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel|url=http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001173403/http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport.cfm|archive-date=2008-10-01|access-date=2012-12-13|website=Official Site of the Governor of Virginia|publisher=Commonwealth of Virginia}}
• {{Cite web|year=2009|title=[Addendum to the Report of the Review Panel] Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel|url=http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport-addendum.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207073108/http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport-addendum.cfm|archive-date=2009-12-07|access-date=2021-11-15|website=Official Site of the Governor of Virginia|publisher=Commonwealth of Virginia}}
• {{Cite news|url=https://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/pdf/cho_mentalhealth.pdf|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070613234618/http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/pdf/cho_mentalhealth.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Cho's mental evaluation form (December 2005)}} {{small|(914 KB)}}
• {{Cite web|date=2007-04-17|title=Cho Seung-Hui's Plays|url=http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430141956/http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/|archive-date=2007-04-30|access-date=2021-11-15|website=News Bloggers}} (links to two plays Cho wrote)
• {{Cite news|title=Interview transcript with shooter's former roommates|url=http://www.roanoke.com/vtshootingaccounts/wb/113495|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102400/http://www.roanoke.com/vtshootingaccounts/wb/113495|archive-date=September 29, 2007|access-date=2021-11-22|work=The Roanoke Times}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081216142106/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=44609 Seung-hui Cho Profile] at America's Most Wanted
• {{Cite web|title=Seung Hui Cho|url=https://schoolshooters.info/seung-hui-cho|access-date=2021-11-15|website=School Shooters .info}}
• {{Cite web|title=Virginia Tech|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/virginia-tech|access-date=2021-11-24|website=FBI Records: The Vault|language=en-us}} (documents on the case the FBI has released)

{{Good article}}

{{Virginia Tech}}

{{Bullying}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Seung-Hui}}

Category:1984 births

Category:2007 suicides

Category:21st-century criminals

Category:Bullying and suicide

Category:Bullying in the United States

Category:College students who died by suicide

Category:Crime in Virginia

Category:Male murder–suicide perpetrators

Category:Murder–suicides in Virginia

Category:People from Asan

Category:South Korean emigrants to the United States

Category:South Korean mass murderers

Category:Suicides by firearm in Virginia

Category:Virginia Tech alumni

Category:Virginia Tech shooting