| Show Class paper by y Va Tech gunman parallels shootings Sari Horwitz The Washington Post Seung Hui Cho wrote a paper for a Virginia Tech English class about a gunman planning a amass amass amass mass school shooting one year before he killed 32 students and faculty members and himself in the deadliest shooting byan byan by byan an individual in US U.S. history according to sources familiar with the paper which was written The paper which for a class in fiction fiction writing and has not surfaced publicly to Chos Cho's has eerie parallel parallels shoot shooting ng inside Norris Hall on April 16 accor according g. g to to Ct seyer several sour sources es One source calle called it itkind itkind it itkind kind of a blueprint for the shootings but others cautioned that that was an overstatement Several of the agencies probing the shootings had not been made aware of the paper at all and the investigative panel appointed by Democratic Gov Timothy Kaine did not receive a copy until recent days The university was supposed to turn tum over all of Chos Cho's writings to the panel but for some reason this paper was left out Additionally the state police which also has the paper said it could not give the writing to the panel under state law because it is part of the investigative file Among the panels panel's areas of inquiry is the sharing of information among state agencies The protagonist in Chos Cho's story plans a mass school murder but in the end does not follow through the sources said Some of Chos Cho's writing in the paper is similar to the words he spoke on the videotape he made on the morning of the shootings the sources saidI said I 1 am not familiar with that paper said Kevin Foust the FBI supervisory senior resident agent in Roanoke whose agents are working with the state police to investigate the shootings That does not ring a bell I think its it's kind of disjointed parent parent- Suzanne Grimes said of the multiple investigations Her Herson Herson Herson son graduate student Kevin Sterne was shot twice by Cho and survived Everyone is entitled to investigate whatever But Im I'm a parent I just want the facts How did this gunman fall through the cracks Corinne Geller a state police spokeswoman said her agency has cooperated with the Kaine panel but that cooperation is limited by law We Ve have provided them with nothing from the criminal investigative file because we cant can't under Virginia state law Geller said This is still an active ongoing investigation We have testified before the panel and we have provided them with the Va Tech Continued on page Paper written by Va Tech shooter Continued from page A Al I information that we can brief them on and we have assisted the panel with locating and obtaining other information that they can get We are in a difficult position said Larry Hincker associate vice president Jor for university relations We dont don't beli believe ve its it's appropriate to comment about any aspect of the review prior to the release of the governors governor's panel report We are anxiously awaiting those findings and recommendations and will defer comment until Thursday The paper about the school massacre is the latest of Chos Cho's disturbing and violent college writings to surface In the days after the shootings several members of the English department faculty said Chos Cho's class papers and plays bothered them but they felt constrained to todo todo todo do anything about it Therole The Therole Therole role of professors and their intervention in such cases is one of the areas likely to tobe tobe tobe be explored by the Kaine panel Many of the writings included angry teenage characters and killings Sources said that Chos Cho's writings so alarmed Hicok I that in the spring of 2006 he went to the English department chairwoman Lucinda Roy and they discussed whether he should be removed from the class elass They decided it would be best to keep him in the class the sources said Cho also alarmed the noted Virginia Tech poet Nikki Giovanni in a creative writing class in fall 2005 Giovanni said Cho took pictures of fellow students during class and wrote about death The day after the shootings she said in an interview that kids write about murder and suicide all the time But there was something that made all of us pay attention closely None of us were comfortable with that In Giovannis Giovanni's class the students including Cho recited poems each of them had written Days later only seven of 70 or so students showed up for class She asked why the others didn't come and was told that they were afraid of Cho Giovanni then approached Cho and told him that he needed to change the type of poems he was writing or drop her class Cho declined to leave and told her You cant can't make me me Giovanni said she appe appealed led to Roy Roy then taught Cho one on She said that she also urged Cho Choto to seek counseling and told him that she would walk to the counseling center with him He said he would think about it |
