Two days after the worst killing spree in modern US history, the shooter again assaulted Virginia Tech -- though this time it was in videos and photographs.
In the images, which the killer apparently taped himself and then mailed to the television network NBC midway through his rampage, 23-year-old Cho Seung-hui delivered a snarling, profanity-laced tirade about rich "brats" and their "hedonistic needs."
"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," the 23-year-old said in a harsh monotone. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."
NBC said the package contained a rambling and often incoherent 23-page written statement, 28 video clips and 43 photos. Several of the photos showed him aiming handguns at the camera.
The package arrived at NBC headquarters in New York and was opened on Wednesday, two days after Cho killed 32 people and committed suicide. It bore a postal service time stamp showing that it had been mailed at a Blacksburg post office at 9:01am on Monday, about an hour and 45 minutes after Cho first opened fire.
The package helped explain one of the biggest mysteries about the massacre: where the gunman was and what he did during that two-hour window between the first burst of gunfire, at a high-rise dorm, and the second attack, at a classroom building.
"Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats," said Cho, whose parents work at a dry cleaners in suburban Washington. "Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't [sic] enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't [sic] enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."
Earlier in the day, authorities disclosed that more than a year before the massacre, Cho was accused of sending unwanted messages to two women and was taken to a psychiatric hospital on a magistrate's orders and was pronounced a danger to himself. But he was released with orders to undergo outpatient treatment.
Some of the pictures in the video package show Cho smiling; others show him frowning and snarling. Some depict him brandishing two weapons at a time, one in each hand. He wears a khaki-colored military-style vest, fingerless gloves, a black T-shirt, a backpack and a backward, black baseball cap. Another photo shows him swinging a hammer two-fisted. Another shows an angry-looking Cho holding a gun to his temple.
He refers to "martyrs like Eric and Dylan" -- a reference to the teenage killers in the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.
NBC News president Steve Capus said the package arrived in Tuesday afternoon's mail, but was not opened until Wednesday morning. It was sent by overnight delivery and apparently had the wrong postal ZIP code, NBC said.
State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller cautioned that, while the package was mailed between the two shootings, police have not inspected the footage and have yet to establish exactly when the images were made.
Cho repeatedly suggests he was picked on or otherwise hurt.
"You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience," he said, apparently reading from his manifesto. "You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people."
A law enforcement official said Cho's letter also refers in the same sentence to US President George W. Bush and to John Mark Karr, the man who falsely confessed last year to having killed child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak to the media.
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