VT Killer Says "You could have stopped me"

(CBS/AP) The search of the Virginia Tech gunman's dorm room and backpack produced eight pages of notes that law enforcement sources characterize as a "suicide note," reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Cho Seung-Hui also sent photographs, videos and writings to NBC in New York before he died in the massacre that left 33 people dead, authorities said.

Midway through his murderous rampage, Cho went to the post office and mailed NBC a package containing photos and videos of him brandishing guns and delivering a snarling, profanity-laced tirade about rich "brats" and their "hedonistic needs."

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui says in a harsh monotone. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

Orr reports the writings found in Cho's dorm "appear to be a manifesto" and are "a rambling diatribe against people of privilege," says one law enforcement official. As the official put it, "He (Cho) just seemed to hate everybody." The notes, he continued, "are page after page of single-spaced rantings."

This contradicts Tuesday's statement by the Virginia State Police that no suicide note was found.

The notes are hard to read and to follow, say officials. "Every other word is 'f---'," one official said. Cho raises no race issues, but focuses mostly on class and privilege, railing against "rich people who have Mercedes, gold, and trust funds."

The notes end with the phrase, "We'll soon be together." Police sources don't know who the "we" is referring to or if it's a specific reference.

NBC said the package mailed to the network contained a rambling and often-incoherent, 1,800-word video manifesto, plus 43 photos, 11 of them showing him aiming handguns at the camera.

He repeatedly suggests he was picked on or otherwise hurt.

"You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience," he says, apparently reading from his manifesto. "You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people."

The package arrived at NBC's headquarters in New York two days after Cho killed 32 people and committed suicide in the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. It bore a Postal Service time stamp showing that it had been mailed at a Virginia post office at 9:01 a.m. Monday, about an hour and 45 minutes after Cho first opened fire.

That would help explain one of the biggest mysteries about the massacre: where the gunman was and what he did during that two-hour window between the first burst of gunfire, at a high-rise dorm, and the second fusillade, at a classroom building.

"Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats," says Cho, a South Korean immigrant whose parents work at a dry cleaners in surburban Washington. "Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."

Some of the pictures show him smiling; others show him frowning and snarling. Some depict him brandishing two weapons at a time, one in each hand. He wears a khaki-colored military-style vest, fingerless gloves, a black T-shirt, a backpack and a backwards, black baseball cap. Another photo shows him swinging a hammer two-fisted. Another shows an angry-looking Cho holding a gun to his temple.

He refers to "martyrs like Eric and Dylan" - a reference to the teenage killers in the Columbine High massacre.

The package was sent by overnight delivery but did not arrive at NBC until Wednesday morning. It had apparently been delayed because it had the wrong ZIP code, NBC said.

An alert postal employee brought the package to NBC's attention after noticing the Blacksburg return address and a name similar to the words reportedly found scrawled in red ink on Cho's arm after the bloodbath, "Ismail Ax," NBC said.

NBC News President Steve Capus said that the network received the package around noon and notified the FBI. He said the FBI asked NBC to hold off reporting on it so that the bureau could look at it first, and NBC complied, finally breaking the story just before a police announcement of the package at 4:30 p.m.

Capus said it was clear Cho videotaped himself, because he could be seen leaning in to shut off the camera.

State Police Spokeswoman Corinne Geller cautioned that, while the package was mailed between the two shootings, police have not inspected the footage and have yet to establish exactly when the images were made.

Earlier Wednesday, it was reported that two women students had complained in 2005 to campus police about Cho.

Sources would not say if Cho's dorm room notes contained any names. Previously, it had been reported that Cho mentioned one or two women students in his notes.

According to Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum, in November of 2005, he made contact with a female student through telephone calls and in person. The student called it "annoying" but declined to press charges.

In December 2005, Cho, an English major, sent instant messages to a second woman. He made no threats, Flinchum said, but the student complained. Officers spoke to him at that time.

Neither of the two women who complained about Cho in 2005 was among Monday's victims.

An acquaintance of Cho later contacted authorities concerned he might be suicidal, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. It was at that point he was taken voluntarily to a mental health facility, Carilion Saint Albans Behavioral Health Center in Christiansburg, Va. But a day later, a medical evaluation found Cho's "insight and judgment" normal and he was approved for outpatient treatment.

Because Cho went to the facility voluntarily, the incident did not show up on Cho's background check, allowing Cho to buy the two guns he needed to carry out the killings.


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