US: Indonesian dead in U.S. campus massacre

International reaction to the shooting focuses on mourning the victims and criticizing lax American gun control laws

The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Jakarta --- The ghastly events at Virginia Tech University in the United States hit home Tuesday when it was revealed that an Indonesian student was among the foreign nationals killed in Monday's massacre.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo told The Jakarta Post that he had received confirmation that a male Indonesian civil engineering student pursuing his post-graduate studies at the university was among the 33 dead.

He would immediately reveal the name, saying that authorities were in the process of contacting the student's next of kin in Indonesia.

The Post separately confirmed that the student's family is based in Medan, North Sumatra, and that the deceased, the youngest of two children, was a graduate of the Parahyangan University in Bandung.

Meanwhile from Virginia AFP reported that the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history was carried out by a 23-year-old "loner" from South Korea who was studying for an English major, university and police officials said Tuesday.

Police identified Cho Seung-hui, a legal U.S. resident, as the shooter at Virginia Tech University and said he may have acted alone in killing 32 people before committing suicide on Monday.

Cho was an undergraduate student in his senior year majoring in English, said campus police chief Wendell Flinchum.

He lived on campus at Harper Hall dormitory and his residence was established in Centreville, Virginia outside Washington, police said.

"He was a 23-year-old South Korean here in the U.S. as a resident alien," Flinchum said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences Tuesday to victims.

The alleged shooter Cho had been in the United States from a young age, Cho Byung-se, a ministry official handling North American affairs, told reporters late Tuesday. No further specifics were given.

"We are in shock beyond description," said Cho Byung-se. "We convey deep condolences to victims, families and the American people."

He said there was no known motive for the shootings, and added that South Korea hoped that the tragedy would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation."

Earlier, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the suspect had gone to live in the United States while in primary school and had permanent residency there while maintaining his South Korean citizenship, citing an unnamed official.

Expressions of sympathy rang out from Buckingham Palace to Beijing as the world absorbed the news of yet another deadly shooting spree in the United States.

But the Virginia Tech massacre also heightened questions about how such horrific violence could break out with such regularity in America, and whether relatively lax U.S. gun laws are not a case of freedom gone too far.

"Only the names change. And the numbers," said a headline in The Times of London.

While there was widespread shock at the shooting spree that left 33 people dead, few people expressed surprise. Many focused criticism on the availability of guns in the United States and the number of Americans who cling to the constitutional right that allows them to bear arms.

"This incident reflects the problem of gun control in America," Yuan Peng, an American studies expert in China, was quoted as saying by state-run China Daily.

Virginia Tech University Charles Steger told ABC television earlier that two people may have been involved in the shooting, but police later said it was "reasonable" to assume that Cho acted alone.

Two people were shot dead in an initial shooting in a campus dormitory on Monday around 7:15 a.m. and another 30 were killed in a rampage more than two hours later. Up to 30 others were wounded.

Steve Flaherty, superintendent of Virginia state police, said a 9 mm handgun and a 22 mm handgun had been recovered.

Flaherty said ballistics tests indicated one of the weapons was used in both shootings but declined to say they had both been carried out by Cho.

Student Erin Sheehan, who survived after the gunman barged into her German class and fired repeatedly, told CNN the attacker was of Asian appearance, wearing a short-sleeved tan shirt and black ammunition vest.

He was dressed "almost like a Boy Scout," she said. "He was very silent" as he carried out the attack.

"He seemed very thorough about it, getting almost everyone down. I was trying to act dead," she said. "He left for about 30 seconds, came back in, did almost exactly the same thing."

The university lists around 2,000 international students from more than 110 countries, including some 1,800 students of Asian origin in the current academic year.

There are some 460 students from Korea studying at Virginia Tech, it said.

China's Xinhua agency said there were up to 500 Chinese students at the university. The Japanese embassy in Washington said all 17 Japanese nationals thought to be members of the university were safe, Kyodo news agency reported.

Date Posted: 4/18/2007