As We Predicted: Killer Was On Anti-Depressants

Chicago tribune
Tuesday April 17, 2007

Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech student identified as the campus shooter responsible for the largest, gun-related mass murder in U.S. history, was a troubled 23-year-old legal permanent resident from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances and died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms.

And he had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behavior, according to an investigative source, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women. A note believed to have been written by Cho was found in his dorm room that railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

The English major from Centreville, Va., a rapidly growing suburb of Washington, D.C., came to the United States in 1992, an investigative source said. His family runs a dry cleaning business and he has a sister who atatended Princeton University, the source said.

Investigators believe that Cho at some point had been taking medication for depression. They also believe that the gunman used the same weapon in both the attack in the dorm room at Virginia Tech and the larger scale classroom killings. Investigators are examining Cho's computer for more evidence.