(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-30 14:52

Cho showed signs of mental health problems as far back as middle school, the panel found. His middle school teachers found suicidal and homicidal thoughts in his writings after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999. He received psychiatric counseling and was on medication for a short time, the report said.

Individuals and departments at Tech were aware of incidents that warned of his mental instability in his junior year, but "did not intervene effectively. No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots," the report said.

Cho killed the first two students just after 7 am, more than two hours before his deadly rampage in classroom building across campus. It wasn't until 9:26 am. that the school sent the first e-mail to students and faculty.

The subject line read, "Shooting on campus." The message read: "The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case."

No further action was ordered. Cho began shooting inside Norris Hall about 20 minutes later. He later killed himself.

The protocol for sending an emergency message on April 16 was "cumbersome, untimely, and problematic when a decision was needed as soon as possible," the report said.

The first message sent by the university to students could have been sent at least an hour earlier and been more specific, but Cho likely would have found someone to kill that day, the report concluded.

"There does not seem to be a plausible scenario of a university response to the double homicide that could have prevented the tragedy of considerable magnitude on April 16," the report said. "Cho had started on a mission of fulfilling a fantasy of revenge."

The report said the university's emergency response plan was deficient in several respects: it did not include provisions for a shooting scenario and did not place police high enough in the emergency decision-making hierarchy. It also did not include a threat assessment team.

A university spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The report said the response by university and Blacksburg police to the dormitory shootings was well coordinated, and said the police response at Norris Hall was "prompt and effective," as was triage and evacuation of the wounded.

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