In lengthy diatribe, shooter mentions Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – Between his first and second bursts of gunfire, the Virginia Tech gunman mailed a package to NBC headquarters in New York containing photos of him brandishing guns and video of him delivering an angry, profanity-laced tirade about rich kids and hedonism.
“You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today,” 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui says in a harsh monotone, in an excerpt shown on “NBC Nightly News.” “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.”
NBC said the package contained an 1,800-word diatribe and 29 photos, 11 of them showing him aiming handguns at the camera. Much of the rant is incoherent and filled with obscenities. He rails against Christianity and the rich.
“Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats,” he says, apparently reading from a manifesto. “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.”
The package, which arrived at NBC two days after Cho killed 32 people and committed suicide in the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, bore a Postal Service 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 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 attack, at a classroom building.
Some of the pictures show him smiling. 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.
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.
“I didn’t have to do it. I could have left. I could have fled,” he says. “But now I am no longer running. If not for me, for my children and my brothers and sisters that you (expletive). I did it for them.”
He also makes references to the Columbine High massacre and the teenage killers, according to NBC.
