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Massacre Gun: $571 for 9 mm Glock and 50 Bullets at Roanoke Store
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ShareApril 17, 2007 2:59 PM
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.
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Markell said Cho's gun and a box of 50 bullets cost $571. He said Cho paid by credit card 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.
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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.
April 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (343)
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gun control. Will we ever learn?
The NRA could care less. Geroge
Bush could care less.
Jack
Jacksonville Beach, Fl.
Posted by: jack | Apr 17, 2007 3:15:13 PM
This is a situation in our society. how does one stop a guy like Cho from mass killings when everything he has done up to that point, he has done legal?
Posted by: RMK | Apr 17, 2007 3:20:18 PM
So, this 571.00 gun/ammo was in a safe place where anyone with a drivers license and id card could buy it. If this gun had been bought by a civilan who was licensed to carry and the guts to follow through with using it we would probably be hailing him as the person that saved lives. If guns were banned... then this youngster probably would have gotten it through one of the black market people that are around and the licensed concealed carry couldn't buy it, we would still have the same savage rampage where the gunman walks into a "SAFE ZONE" and kills people. Why aren't there more honest, law-abiding citizens taught how to carry and use a gun and then give them a gun if you have to so they can help protect themselves, their family and the people around them from people like this. I wonder.
Posted by: Robert Falls | Apr 17, 2007 3:22:25 PM
With everyone so lawsuit crazy, one or more persons now will file lawsuits against the stores that sold the guns and the companies that made them. Those lawsuits will most likely be class-action since the guns killed 32 people.
Posted by: Chet Cuccia | Apr 17, 2007 3:23:47 PM
Why does stuff like this keep happening? We are not safe anywhere. What a shame. The 60's were great. Never locked doors, windows, walked the streets until dark. All I can say we are always going to be in danger.
Posted by: kelly | Apr 17, 2007 3:25:55 PM
Why does stuff like this keep happening? We are not safe anywhere. What a shame. The 60's were great. Never locked doors, windows, walked the streets until dark. All I can say we are always going to be in danger.
Posted by: kelly | Apr 17, 2007 3:27:04 PM
And why is the headline important, even relevant, to the story?
It isn't.
Let's get off the "anti-gun" propaganda wagon and get down to real, professional journalism.
Posted by: Robert Reese | Apr 17, 2007 3:29:40 PM
And why is the headline important, even relevant, to the story?
It isn't.
Let's get off the "anti-gun" propaganda wagon and get down to real, professional journalism.
Posted by: Robert Reese | Apr 17, 2007 3:31:29 PM
you want to know what i think he was sick and not smart and on top of that he kill him self. poeple like that should be put in jail if they think they can get away with this. he was crazy to do this that what i think
Posted by: sarah | Apr 17, 2007 3:31:44 PM
"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.
IF YOU FEEL SO BADLY THEN STOP SELLING GUNS!!!
Posted by: James | Apr 17, 2007 3:32:12 PM
I guess this shows that waiting periods and other gun control measures did nothing to stop a committed murderer. Time to let law abiding citizens defend themselves!
Posted by: John Browning | Apr 17, 2007 3:33:25 PM
he was sick and crazy just to kill everyone and him self for just get what he want and he got a lot of plan for everyone
Posted by: sarah | Apr 17, 2007 3:34:07 PM
We need stricter laws in all of our states. The gun was not the problem. The person behind the gun is the problem. Guns save lives if used correctly. I feel the school along with the officers of the state did not do all they could to save the lives of the innocent, I must say the officers protected themselfes and their vehicles well. While the kids inside the school had no protection. I am just sick over this. Hope that all that did not do as much as they could lose more than they gain.
Posted by: Lisa Robinson | Apr 17, 2007 3:34:42 PM
Why would we allow a non-citizen to own a gun in the U.S.? I have no problem with legal citizens owning guns but not someone who is not a U.S. citizen. We do not allow non-citizens to vote....why should they be allow to own a gun?
Posted by: Harold Richards | Apr 17, 2007 3:36:10 PM
The first question that should be asked here rather than what weapon , clip size, etc. is how does a foreign national purchase a weapon in the first place.
Leave us law abiding citizens out of this. Regardless of what weapon or clip size we do not commit such heinous acts.
Nuff said!
Posted by: J Peterson | Apr 17, 2007 3:41:12 PM
Sorry for the lawsuits coming is all. You got to remember, this is this guy's living.
Posted by: Seaweed | Apr 17, 2007 3:41:31 PM
I would like to send my deepest sympathy to all the families of the students who's life was tragically ended yesterday at Virginia Tech.
Posted by: Uraina Rouse | Apr 17, 2007 3:50:43 PM
First!!
Posted by: Puff_Jacket_Kid_76 | Apr 17, 2007 3:51:54 PM
I just wanted to say that everyone there at VT is in my prayers and thoughts. I think it is a little ridiculous for something like this to happen. You just can not say that u know people these days. They will go off and do anything. Some have to be prevoced. I never attended VT or had anyone there that I personally knew but my heart goes out to everyone that is there and for the families.
MUCH LOVE FROM BLACKSTONE,VA.
Posted by: April Hawker | Apr 17, 2007 3:55:12 PM
The faster we can pass laws to liberalize the purchase requirements & ownership laws of guns, especially to the 18-25 year old crowd and to cordial foreign nationals, the more safer we'll be cuz more people will have more guns.
Posted by: PretzelLogicizer | Apr 17, 2007 3:55:47 PM
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