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Killer Bought Handgun, Ammo Last Month

April 18, 2007

By Bill McKelway & Peter Bacqué

ROANOKE — The Glock 19 and a box of practice rounds cost $571.

Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui didn't raise any suspicion when he bought the 9 mm handgun — apparently legally at a Roanoke gun shop five weeks ago.

The Glock was one of two guns found with Cho's fingerprints after he fatally shot 32 people and then himself at the university on Monday.

John Markell, owner of Roanoke Firearms on Cove Road in Northwest Roanoke, said a clerk recalled nothing unusual about Cho when he used a credit card to purchase the Glock in March.

The serial number had been scratched off the gun when it was recovered Monday, but federal agents traced it to the store, located about 45 minutes from Tech, using a receipt found in Cho's backpack.

"He was a nice, clean-cut college kid," Markell said. "We won't sell a gun if we have any idea at all that a purchase is suspicious."

"A gun is just a tool," he said last night at his home darkened by a power outage. "I regret he used it improperly."

Because Cho was a permanent resident alien, he was eligible to buy a handgun unless he had been convicted of a felony. Authorities also found a Walther .22-caliber handgun in Cho's possession, according to a search warrant filed in Montgomery County.

Because he killed and injured so many people in so short a time, some speculated that Cho used high-capacity magazines containing as many as 33 rounds in each clip.

Glock magazines drop free from the bottom of the pistol's grip with the push of the release button.

Under the federal assault-weapons ban enacted in 1994, magazines were limited to 10 rounds. But that ban was allowed to expire in 2004.

Even with smaller-capacity magazines, a shooter can reload a Glock in "a bit of a second," said Benny Paz, owner of Glockmeister, a distributorship for Glock parts and accessories — but not guns, he notes — in Mesa, Ariz.

The 9 mm has become the common standard for handguns and submachine guns worldwide. Ammunition for that caliber weapon is widely available and relatively cheap. It's also powerful and accurate.

As a result, "when you shoot and hit where you want to hit," Paz said, "the result's going to be very bad."

Glock 9 mm's were among the weapons involved in the 2005 Red Lake High School massacre in Minnesota (10 dead, 14 injured); the 2006 Dawson College shooting in Canada (two dead, 19 injured); and the 2002 Erfurt, Germany, school massacre (17 dead).

Young people — particularly those about 20 — are the most likely to use guns to kill, federal figures show. And overwhelmingly, young criminal shooters prefer handguns, especially semiautomatics.

Most criminals want guns that are easily concealable, large caliber and well-made, according to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. "No national collection of data contains detailed information about all of the guns used in crimes," the study says.

And now federal law forbids releasing information on guns traced to crimes, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Guns such as Glocks feature prominently in music popular with young people. For instance, the Ludacris song "Roll Out" says, "I got my twin Glock .40's, cocked back."

Contact staff writer Bill McKelway at bmckelway@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6601.

Contact staff writer Peter Bacqué at pbacque@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6813.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.