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Seung Hui Cho was a senior at Virginia Tech, he was majoring in Business Information Tech. It was considered one of the hardest programs at Virginia Tech. He was supposed to be graduating in the upcoming spring. He didn't really have any friends on the campus, even his roommates didn't talk to him, despite attempts from other students to talk to him. He was very anti-social and he was made fun of a lot. He was latter diagnosed with having a mental disorder and was supposed to be an outpatient at a hospital. Even though he was required to visit a mental institution, he never checked himself in. Since he wasn't involuntarily admitted to a hospital he was still able to purchase firearms, even though he was considered a threat to himself and others.

Cho and his family moved to Virginia when he was eight. His father worked as a secondhand bookstore owner. He couldn't make enough money to support his family in Korea. As a child he was shy, and was a concern to his family. He excelled in school, he finished the three year elementary program in a year and a half. In middle and high school, Cho was teased for the way he talked, some kids would pay him to hear him talk. He was also made fun of because he walked to school by himself everyday with his trombone. There were also rumors that Cho had a "hit list" of all the kids that teased him that he wanted to kill.

Cho was known on campus to have stalked several female students that went to Virginia Tech. Cho emailed them and found out hey lived on the campus and then wrote quotes on their dorm boards and repeatedly tried to meet with them. He would follow them to their dorms and sit outside. He was warned by the campus police several times. His roommates also noticed his talk about killing others and suicide. His roommates, who had tried to befriend him, ended up not talking to him at all because of his bizarre, repetative behavior. They were the first to report him to the campus police. His roommates started telling everyone they knew, not to visit their dorm, especially women. They were also quite disturbed when they read the plays he had written for two of his classes. They featured violent main characters who were mistreated and then ended up on top by striking back at the main source of their problems. He was kicked out of his poetry class for his writing. Cho was recommended by teachers to visit the on campus counseling, but never made an attempt to.

A month before the shooting Cho purchased two handguns, which he regularly practiced with at a shooting range. even though he was considered a threat to others and himself, he was able to buy the guns because he was not involuntarily hospitalized and in Virginia a mental health background check is not required. After the shootings the police found that he had purchased two extra clips for his guns and that he acquired hollow point bullets before the shooting. Hollow point bullets expand when they hit human flesh causing a larger exit wound than full metal jacket bullets do.

On the morning of April 16, Cho shoot and killed two fellow students then went back to his dorm. There he sent videos, letters, and photographs to NBC news, explaining his reasons for killing them. Then he shot and killed over thirty students and teachers and wounded over twenty others. Shortly after he shot himself in the face.