Virginia Tech shooting

The Virginia Tech shooting was a school shooting that occurred on April 16, 2007, at two locations, in West Ambler Johnston Hall and Norris Hall, at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in Blacksburg, Virginia. Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate student at the university and a U.S. resident of South Korean origin, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others with two semi-automatic pistols. Six others were injured jumping out of windows to escape Cho. As police stormed Norris Hall, Cho committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The shooting is the deadliest school shooting in the history of the United States.:92:78 At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history, being surpassed nine years later by the Orlando nightclub shooting.

The attacks received international media coverage and drew widespread criticism of U.S. gun culture. It sparked intense debate about gun violence, gun laws, gaps in the U.S. system for treating mental health issues, the perpetrator's state of mind, the responsibility of college administrations, privacy laws, journalism ethics, and other issues. Television news organizations that aired portions of the killer's multimedia manifesto were criticized by victims' families, Virginia law enforcement officials, and the American Psychiatric Association.

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