How he got his guns
Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:56 PM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
Crime, Chris Hansen
by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent
36 days ago, Cho Seung-Hui bought a gun at a shop in Roanoke, Virginia, a Glock 19. I spoke with the owner of the Roanoke firearms Tusday afternoon, who told me that it was a “typical sale.”
Cho, who was a resident alien, had three forms of ID, so he produced a Va. driver’s license that established residency, a checkbook that matched, and his INS card. The gun shop did a background check, and Cho cleared the state police and federal computers. He was able to take the gun home with him after paying for it with a credit card.
The owner says Cho didn’t make employees suspicious, that he seemed like a typical clean-cut college kid.
“I can’t even begin to describe how I feel,” says John, the owner. “One death would have been to many. This is horrible.”
Gun sales in Virginia have been more than a sticking point with gun control advocates, not to mention New York City. NBC News analyst Michael Sheehan, who oversaw counterterrorism for the New York City Police Department, tells us many guns bought in Virginia end up on New York streets.
In the Virginia tech case, Cho purchased that 9mm legally. Earlier in February, he bought a 22-caliber handgun at a local Blacksburg, Virginia pawn shop.
