Associated Press

President Bush offers condolences during a speech at Virginia Tech.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Tuesday night, thousands of Virginia Tech students, faculty, and area residents poured into the center of the campus to grieve together. They held thousands of candles as speakers urged them to find solice in one another as they slow healing process began.

Lauren McCain, 20, of Hampton was one of the people killed during Monday's mass shooting. She was a freshman majoring in International Studies.

"Her life since that time has been filled with His love that continued to overflow to touch everyone who knew her," said Pastor David Bounds, sharing the thoughts of McCain's family.

Nicole White, 20, of Smithfield also was killed in the shooting rampage. She, too, was an International Studies major. She was in German class in Norris Hall when she was shot.

The parents of both women were in Blacksburg Tuesday.

The campus will remain closed for the week and President Charles Sterger said Norris Hall would be closed for the rest of the semester.

The healing began Tuesday at an afternoon convocation ceremony.

President George W. Bush called Virginia Tech "a really extraordinary place" as he spoke to students, faculty, family members and others attending the Tuesday afternoon convocation.

He said Monday started out as any other day, but "by the end of the day, it was the worst shooting in U.S. history.  By the end of the day, for many of you, it was the worst day of your lives.

It’s impossible to make sense of such senselessness and suffering. They did nothing to deserve their fate. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They leave behind grieving family, classmates and nation.”

Associated Press

Cho Seung-Hui is responsible for the massacre at Virginia Tech.

The gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, 23, was a senior at Va. Tech and native of South Korea. He was enrolled in the undergraduate program as an English major.

He was a resident alien from Centerville, VA and lived in Harper Hall, near the scene of the dorm shooting, officials said.

Two of the students killed in Monday's shooting rampage attended the same high school as Cho. Fairfax County school officials say Reema Samaha and Erin Peterson graduated from Westfield High School three years after the shooter. Authorities have not said whether Cho knew the two young women and singled them out.

State Police investigators announced earlier in the day that a 9mm and .22 caliber handgun were recovered from Norris Hall. Ballistics from shootings at Norris Hall and West Ambler-Johnston Hall show one of the two weapons was used in both shootings. 

According to Virginia State Police, "We can’t say the same shooter did the firings. It’s reasonable to assume, but we don’t have the evidence to say that positively yet.”  

Offficials also said there is no evidence to indicate there was any accomplice, but that they were exploring whether anyone helped with the planning or execution of the event.  

Associated Press

Police respond to shootings on campus of Virginia Tech University,

Tuesday, students from William and Mary reacted to the Va. Tech shootings. Marianna McLaughlin transferred from Virginia Tech three years ago. She said, "I think we've all been crying. We've had trafedies on our campus, but nothing of this magnitude. Everyone here knows someone affected, or worse."

Tech student and Chesapeake native Jessi Pierce said she was near Norris Hall when the shooting started, but she didn't know what had happened inside.

"The candlelight vigils they are holding later is when it's really going to hit us. Oh my gosh. This is our campus, our turf. It could have been any one of us," Pierce said.

Associated Press

Va. Tech president Charles Steger talks to the media.

Wielding two handguns and carrying multiple clips of ammunition, Cho opened fire about 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston, a high-rise coed dormitory, then, chain-locking two of the doors, he stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building a half-mile away on the other side of the 2,600-acre campus.

People who are struggling to get in contact with students at Virginia Tech can call the Virginia Tech Dean's office at 540-231-3787 for help. A parent/famiy information line is in operation at 1-800-533-1144.

A police tip line also has been established. It's 1-540-231-6411.

Among the wounded is student Matt Webster, whose family lives in Smithfield. Webster was shot in the arm and will recover.

Trey Perkins, who was sitting in a German class in Norris Hall, told The Washington Post that the gunman barged into the room at about 9:50 a.m. and opened fire for about a minute and a half, squeezing off about 30 shots.

The gunman first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the students, Perkins said. The gunman was about 19 years old and had a "very serious but very calm look on his face," he said. "Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. "And the shots seemed like it lasted forever."

Students say the first e-mail warning they got from the university about the rampage came more than two hours after the first shots were fired, by which time the gunman had struck again.

The e-mail had few details. It said: "A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating." The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said university president Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and horrified that this would befall us."

Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.

He defended the university's handling of the tragedy, saying: "We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."

19-year-old student Kenneth Erisman from Virginia Beach, says ... "everybody is shocked."

Associated Press

Virginia State Police armored vehicle drives on the Virginia Tech campus

Governor Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency, directing state agencies to take all necessary actions to aid in the response and recovery following the shootings at Virginia Tech.

"State agencies, including State Police and the Virginia Departments of Health and Emergency Management, are doing everything possible to be of assistance to those who were injured, and those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy," Governor Kaine said.

Officials ordered the campus closed, the second time in less than a year the 26,000-student campus was shut because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus.

The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

A receipt in Cho's backpack showed he bought the Glock 9mm pistol in March.

To buy a gun in Virginia, a green card holder has to show he's been a resident of the state for at least 90 days, and provide a valid photo I-D plus documentation such as a utility bill or lease.

The state's firearms purchase eligibility test lists 16 questions that all must be answered "no" for the purchase to go forward. The questions include whether the person's a felon or drug abuser.

The state does not maintain registration lists of firearms owners.