(RUMOR) Chicago Sun Times: Gunman May Have Been Chinese Man on Visa...

Link is here.

Authorities were investigating whether the gunman who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history was a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa.

The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said.

Police believe three bomb threats on the campus last week may have been attempts by the man to test the campus’ security response, the source said.

Interesting if this is true...

Link is here.

Interesting if this is true...

In what way? All them furriners are eeevull?

I'm still not jumping to any conclusion... the chains and the probing of security are interesting...

In what way? All them furriners are eeevull?

I dont want to speak for the poster but maybe he meant that it would be interesting if it turns out he is working for a terrorist organization. Another front on the "war on terror": college campuses

... and heck... I don't know how things are at Tech, at UVA most of the sparkies and physics grad students were Chinese...

... and heck... I don't know how things are at Tech, at UVA most of the sparkies and physics grad students were Chinese...

What are sparkies?

I going to be careful here, but just thinking out loud.

Usually, if an incident is cut and dry the law enforcement types come out and say so. Just look at the last couple of major incidents. You knew pretty much what happened. It takes a couple of days to get the full why, but it wasn't that much different from what the media was guessing at.

Here, they are quiet on the bad guy and have not really come out and provided a lot of information. Now, this could be just making sure they get it right, but it could also mean something further.

Testing of security is very disturbing if true. That implies pre-planning and intention of bad things.

cue Bill O'Reilly

I going to be careful here, but just thinking out loud.

Usually, if an incident is cut and dry the law enforcement types come out and say so. Just look at the last couple of major incidents. You knew pretty much what happened. It takes a couple of days to get the full why, but it wasn't that much different from what the media was guessing at.

Here, they are quiet on the bad guy and have not really come out and provided a lot of information. Now, this could be just making sure they get it right, but it could also mean something further.

Testing of security is very disturbing if true. That implies pre-planning and intention of bad things.

i hope that this is not true

i hope that this is not true

Fortunately or unfortunately, I will eventually find out.

Testing of security is very disturbing if true. That implies pre-planning and intention of bad things.

Another rumor on the Internet:

- Gun was bought in March from a shop in Roanoke. 2 guns (I would look up the make but the place with the "info" has crashed).

- Last name of the perp is Cho (Chinese or Korean?). He had a visa/green card and all of his background paper checked out.

Also, ABCNews is reporting they are looking for another "person of interest". This is sometimes the new PC way of saying, "suspect". This "person of interest" is not in police custody. I'm not sure if this is the same "person of interest" they questioned after the first shooting, since they stated they were interviewing a "person of interest" when the second shooting happened.

Even though they are looking for a "person of interest", they haven't released a description of said person.

Are people in the country on a visa allowed to purchase guns?

Are people in the country on a visa allowed to purchase guns?

Unfortunately, yes. There are certain criteria non citizens must meet, but it's pretty simple.

Another rumor on the Internet:

- Gun was bought in March from a shop in Roanoke. 2 guns (I would look up the make but the place with the "info" has crashed).

- Last name of the perp is Cho (Chinese or Korean?). He had a visa/green card and all of his background paper checked out.

It sounds like he was here on a student visa, in which case he would have gone through all our post-9/11 background checks.

Also, ABCNews is reporting they are looking for another "person of interest". This is sometimes the new PC way of saying, "suspect". This "person of interest" is not in police custody. I'm not sure if this is the same "person of interest" they questioned after the first shooting, since they stated they were interviewing a "person of interest" when the second shooting happened.

Even though they are looking for a "person of interest", they haven't released a description of said person.

I'm starting to think the two shootings are unrelated, but we'll have to wait for more information tomorrow.

Are people in the country on a visa allowed to purchase guns?

Looks like it is legal in most states ... Virginia doesn't allow aliens to have concealed weapons permits but it doesn't look like there's a ban on purchasing guns.

Unfortunately, yes. There are certain criteria non citizens must meet, but it's pretty simple.

That's just crazy.

Looks like it is legal in most states ... Virginia doesn't allow aliens to have concealed weapons permits but it doesn't look like there's a ban on purchasing guns.

Federal law allows aliens to purchase firearms. All they have to provide is the following:

Valid state issued ID

90 days consecutive proof of residency

A valid alien registration card or INS issued 1-94 number

Non-immigrants, which is what he probably was, must meet one of five exceptions as well. My guess is the exception he would have had to meet is that he possessed a valid hunting license. If he didn't have a license and someone either issued him a permit or sold him the firearm directly, is definately screwed.

In what way? All them furriners are eeevull?

No, only the ones with unproven ties to Al Quaeda :doh:

If the guy claiming to have sold the guns is true... shooter used a Glock 19 and Walther P-22. He also said there is surveillance of the purchase, and the paperwork checks out.

Again, this is the thread for rumor-mongering...

Well, if he was a Chinese citizen, then that means we're going to be invading Korea a month before the election. South Korea.

(Hey, it's a thread for rumor and speculation.)

The shooter has been id'ed as a 23-year old senior English major from Northern Virginia, who came to the U.S. from South Korea as a child.

Name: Cho Seung Hui

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041700563.html?hpid=topnews

I'm starting to think the two shootings are unrelated, but we'll have to wait for more information tomorrow.

Ballistics tests have shown that the same gun was used in both shootings.

The shooter has been id'ed as a 23-year old senior English major from South Korea, lately from Northern Virginia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041700563.html?hpid=topnews

Sounds like he was more Asian-American than Asian ... an undergrad from NOVA who immigrated at a young age and is majoring in English, so I would guess he is probably a citizen.

Correct. My post was badly worded, so I edited it. He is of South Korean descent, came to this country as a child, and lived in Centreville.

DjTj,

From latest news conference it sounded like he is a resident alien. So he didn't come on a Visa, but was here on a green card.

It's still unknown if he was Asian or Asian-American. It's possible he was part of the non-integrated sub-culture, Korean at home, hanging with Korean friends. Or he couldn've been more Korean-American.

What the hell though. He lived in student housing off-campus.