Roanoke, Va. – Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho may have tried a practice run two days before his April 16 rampage, chaining an entrance of the campus building where he would later walk from room to room, methodically killing 30 people before shooting himself, investigators said Friday.
A witness saw a suspicious- looking man with a hooded sweat shirt obscuring his face lurking by the entrance to Norris Hall on the morning of April 14, police revealed at a news conference Friday. A second witness recalled that one set of doors was briefly chained shut about the same time, they said. Cho chained all three entrances shut during the attack two days later, slowing the police response.
Investigators also have definitively linked Cho, 23, to the earlier shootings in West Ambler Johnston Dorm, where two other victims were slain. They said the blood of resident adviser Ryan Clark was found on Cho’s jeans and shoes, which he hid in his dorm room between the two attacks. Cho’s shoes also matched a bloodstained shoe print found in the hallway outside the room of Clark, who was gunned down along with Cho’s first victim, freshman Emily Hilscher.
But nearly four months after the deadliest shooting by an individual in U.S. history – despite conducting hundreds of interviews and collecting reams of evidence – investigators said they cannot explain Cho’s actions or motives or establish any links between him and any of his victims.
Although Cho, of Centreville, Va., publicized his actions by sending materials to NBC that railed against the rich and compared himself with the downtrodden, he also took steps that have helped cover his tracks. Investigators said he returned to his dorm room after killing Hilscher and Clark and deleted his personal e-mail account.
His computer hard drive also has never been found.
“That’s a piece of evidence we’d love to have, along with his cellphone,” said Col. Steven Flaherty, the state police superintendent.
