Taiwan student says US gunman's spree began with quarrel

Apr 17, 2007, 5:55 GMT

Taipei - The gunman who shot up a Virginia university and killed at least 33 people including himself was an Asian student who had quarrelled with his girlfriend just before the shooting spree, a Taiwanese student said Tuesday.

Virginia Tech student Chen Chia-hao told Taiwan cable TV channel CTI that the shooting rampage on Monday morning began after the gunman, believed to be a student from China, killed his girlfriend in the student dormitory after an argument.

'They had a big quarrel in the West Ambler Johnston Hall and he shot her. Then the RA (dorm supervisor) came, and he shot the RA,' Chen told CTI by phone.

From the student dorm, the gunman then went to the classroom building Norris Hall, where he locked up the front and back door of a classroom with an iron chain, Chen said.

About 25 students were taking a German-language class in that classroom. The gunman opened fired on the students, before turning the gun on himself.

'He opened fire to the back of his head and blew up the front part of his head, which has made it difficult to identify him,' he said.

The shooting left 33 people, including the gunman, dead and about 15 injured.

Virginia Tech has about 26,000 students. The carnage was the worst campus shooting in US history.