Cho's family 'so very sorry' for Tech tragedy
"He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare," his sister, Sun-Kyung Cho, said in a written statement issued on behalf of her family in their first public comments about the shooting. "Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us."
Sun-Kyung Cho said her family has been praying for the victims and their families, listing by name in her statement all 32 people who died.
But in a sign of life slowly moving toward some sense of routine, the first athletic event since the massacre was held Friday evening on the sports-crazy campus, when Virginia Tech and the University of Miami took the field for a baseball game.
Before the game started, the crowd at English Field observed 32 seconds of silence, one second for each of Cho's victims. The University of Miami also donated $10,000 to a memorial fund for the victims' families. An English Field record crowd of 3,132 witnessed the emotional 11-9 victory for Miami.
Amid remembrances Friday, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger announced that classes will resume on Monday.
"We will move forward in a way that will honor the memory of those we have lost," said Steger in a letter to the school's 26,000 students.
Students were given the options of withdrawing or taking their current grades without finishing the term. Those interviewed on Friday overwhelmingly said they planned to return to class at Virginia Tech.
"I just want to get back to normal and forget about Cho and just get back to the normality of going to school, finishing work and just living as a Hokie," said Karan Grewal, who shared a dorm with Cho for nine months prior to the shootings. "We all need a sense of normalcy, of routine back," said student Tricia Sangalang. "This our first step to moving forward."
Police say Cho, armed with two handguns, entered Norris Hall on Monday morning and shot 45 people, killing 30 and wounding 15, before turning the gun on himself.
Two hours earlier, two other students were shot at a dormitory across campus. Police have tied one of Cho's guns to both shooting scenes.
Law enforcement sources told CNN Friday that Cho fired off as many as 225 shots during his rampage. Another law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said most of the victims were shot at least three times. ------------------Hopeless, helpless and lost
Cho's parents and sister have been in seclusion since the shootings, and, until Friday, had not made any public comment.
In her statement, Sun-Kyung Cho said her family has been praying for the victims and their families.
She said the family feels "hopeless, helpless and lost" and had no idea he was capable of such violence. "Each of these people had so much love, talent and gifts to offer, and their lives were cut short by a horrible and senseless act," she said. "There is much justified anger and disbelief at what my brother did, and a lot of questions are left unanswered." Wendy Adams, whose niece, Leslie Sherman, died in the rampage, told The Associated Press about the family's statement: "I'm not so generous to be able to forgive him for what he did. But I do feel for the family. I do feel sorry for them."
The Cho family, who emigrated from South Korea in 1992, lived in Centreville, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, where the parents worked in a dry-cleaning business. Sun-Kyung Cho, like her brother, grew up mostly in the United States; she is a graduate of Princeton University.
Investigators Friday continued to try to determine if there was any link between Seung-Hui Cho and Emily Hilscher, 19, one of the students killed at the West Ambler Johnston dorm. According to a search warrant, investigators are examining Hilscher's laptop computer and cell phone.
Police have also filed warrants looking for records from Cho's cell phone, the AP reported.
"Seung-Hui Cho is known to have communicated by cellular telephone and may have communicated with others concerning his plans to carry out attacks on students and faculty at Virginia Tech," the affidavit said, according to the AP.
In late 2005, two other female students at Virginia Tech complained to police that Cho had been harassing them, although neither pursued charges against him.
The bodies of all 33 people who died Monday, including Cho, had been released to their families as of Friday morning, according to Larry Hill, a spokesman for the state health department.