Posted on 04/17/2007 12:33:08 PM PDT by areafiftyone
Seung-Hui Cho bought his first gun, a 9mm handgun, on March 13 at a Roanoke, Va. gun store, the owner tells ABC News.
John Markell, the owner of Roanoke Firearms, said today that he had been interviewed by three agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms about Cho's purchase of a Glock 9 mm handgun.
"I feel terrible about this," Markell told ABC News at his store today, which is part gun shop, part pawn shop on the outskirts of Roanoke.
Markell said Cho's gun and a box of 50 bullets cost $571. He said Cho paid by check and left the store with the gun.
Markell said Cho was "a clean-cut college kid," and the transaction was entirely legal under Virginia law. "He was as cordial as could be, and there was nothing unusual in his manner that suggested any thing wrong," Markell said.
Markell said he was not present when Cho bought the gun, but that he had produced a state driver's license and an immigration card.
Law enforcement officials tell ABC News Cho bought his second weapon, a .22 caliber handgun, also in Virginia, within the last week.
"This was no spur of the moment crime. He's been thinking about this since at least the time he bought the first gun," said former FBI agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant.
Under Virginia law, state residents can only buy one handgun in any 30-day period, suggesting Cho bought his second weapon after April 13 or sometime over the weekend.
"He clearly spent some time figuring out how he was going to take care of business once classes began on Monday morning," said Garrett.
The date of the first gun purchase will likely serve as the time of "some triggering mechanism that was very important" to Cho said Garrett, an expert on profiling murderers.
$571.00 could purchase 571 box cutters too.
NO! Only legal resident of US and resident of Virginia. The store owner said he presented green car, check book and DL when he bought the gun in march
March 13 a week before Iranian New Year began.
I wasn’t complimenting ABC for good reporting, I meant that they are leading the anti-gun onslaught this time around .
Yeah, how much did he pay for the anti-depressants?
I haven’t priced a G19 or G17 lately, doesn’t $571 seem a little high? I was thinking they were around $350-400.
Not in NYC unless you are 21+ though...feel safer?
Why? Dude, it's not your fault that this happened. There's no need for a guilty conscience.
No one can predict what someone's going to do.
He bought it on March 13th, so “cool-down” periods are clearly meaningless.
Stumped me too! Perhaps the day the killer enquired about a weapon, and the day he purchased it, were different.
“Under Virginia law, state residents can only buy one handgun in any 30-day period, suggesting Cho bought his second weapon after April 13 or sometime over the weekend.”
Hey, Fast Eddie Rendell, Take Note!!!
The “one gun a month” law you think is a panacea to gun violence, worked really, really good here! Right?!
Definitely not this gun shop owner’s fault. The media is making more of it and probably hounding him!
wait.. he only had 50 bullets?
kid was a pretty darn good shot.
I was looking for a Ruger this past weekend and the Glocks were all over $500. Those prices sound about right.
The Iranian New Year isn't the Islamic New Year. It is the remnant of the old Indo-Aryan spring festival. In India, the Hindus had their New Year around the same time.
It is my understanding that a resident alien is allowed to purchase firearms. The question I have is what about the waiting period for the background check. They think he may have purchased the other gun over the weekend??? Something isn't right.
He may have filed off the serial numbers because he initially may have intended to get away after shooting the woman. Maybe he changed his mind the same day (there was a huge lag between the first shooting and the massacre), maybe in the days preceding.
“March 13 a week before Iranian New Year began.”
Is this sarcasm? I hope so.
This is what amazes me. How does one person shoot 50 people, even if they are all in a contained area.
That’s the kind of shooting Special Ops guys would be proud of. Man, that little twerp was talented with a handgun.
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