Although he did not explicitly say the student was also the gunman in the first shooting, university president Charles Steger said he did not believe there was another shooter. Two people were killed at a dormitory Monday before 30 were shot at a campus building. The gunman finally killed himself with a shot to the head.

 "We do know that he was an Asian male - this is (in) the second incident - an Asian man who was a resident in one of our dormitories," Steger said in an interview with CNN, confirming for the first time that the killer was a student.

Steger also defended the delay in warning students about the gunman. Some students said their first warning came more than two hours after the first shooting, in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m. By then the second shooting had begun.

Steger said the university was trying to notify students who were already on-campus, not those who were commuting in.

 "We warned the students that we thought were immediately impacted," he told CNN. "We felt that confining them to the classroom was how to keep them safest."

 Investigators knew of no motive, and the gunman's name was not immediately released.

 The shooting began around 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston, a high-rise co-ed dormitory where two people died.

Police were still investigating around 9:15 a.m. when a gunman wielding two handguns and carrying multiple clips of ammunition stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building 800 metres away on the other side of the 1,050-hectare campus.

 At least 15 people were wounded in the second attack, some seriously. Many had been trapped after someone, apparently the shooter, chained and locked Norris Hall doors from the inside.

 Some students jumped from windows, and students and faculty carried away some of the wounded without waiting for ambulances.

 SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed the campus. A student used his cellphone camera to record the sound of bullets echoing through a stone building.

Inside Norris Hall, the attack began with a thunderous sound from Room 206 - "what sounded like an enormous hammer," said Alec Calhoun, 20, who was in a mechanics lecture in a classroom next door.

 Screams followed an instant later, and the banging continued. When students realized the sounds were gunshots, Calhoun said, he started flipping over desks for shelter. Others dashed to the windows of the second-floor classroom, kicking out the screens and jumping from the ledge of Room 204, he said.

 "I must've been the eighth or ninth person who jumped, and I think I was the last," said Calhoun, of Waynesboro, Va. He landed in a bush and ran.

 Calhoun said two students behind him were shot, but he believes they survived. Just before he climbed out the window, Calhoun said, he turned to look at his professor, who had stayed behind, apparently to prevent the gunman from opening the door.

 The instructor was killed, Calhoun said.

 Erin Sheehan, who was in class next door to Calhoun's, said she was one of only four of about two dozen people to walk out of the room. The rest were dead or wounded, she said.

 She said the gunman "was just a normal-looking kid, Asian, but he had on a boy scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something."

 The gunman first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the class, another student, Trey Perkins, told the

Washington Post. The gunman was about 19 years old and had a "very serious but very calm look on his face."

 "Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. "And the shots seemed like it lasted forever."

At an evening news conference, Police Chief Wendell Flinchum refused to dismiss the possibility that a co-conspirator or second shooter was involved. He said police had interviewed a male who was a "person of interest" in the dorm shooting and who knew one of the victims, but he declined to give details.

 "I'm not saying there's a gunman on the loose," Flinchum said, adding ballistics tests would help explain what happened.

 Some students said they got no warning from the university until an e-mail arrived more than two hours after the first shots.

 "I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident," said Billy Bason, 18, who lives on the seventh floor of the dorm.

 Steger said authorities believed the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

 "We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.

 Steger emphasized that the university closed off the dorm after the first attack and decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means to spread the word, but said that with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out.

 He said that before the e-mail was sent, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms and sent people to knock on doors. Students were warned to stay inside and away from the windows.

The 9:26 e-mail had few details: "A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating." The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.

 The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

  Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is nestled in southwestern Virginia, about 258 kilometres west of Richmond. With more than 25,000 full-time students, it has the state's largest full-time student population. The school is best known for its engineering school and its powerhouse Hokies football team.

 It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of gunfire.

 Last August, the opening day of classes was cancelled when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy was killed just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

 Among Monday's dead were professors Liviu Librescu and Kevin Granata, said Ishwar Puri, head of the engineering science and mechanics department.

 Librescu, an Israeli, was known internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, Puri wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

 Granata and his students researched muscle and reflex response and robotics. Puri called him one of the top five bio-mechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy.

A list of some major violent incidents at North American schools:

 April 16, 2007: Deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history as gunman opens fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. The toll is 33 dead, including the gunman, who committed suicide.

 Oct. 2, 2006: A 32-year-old gunman enters an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and holds 10 girls hostage before shooting them. Five girls are killed, and five more wounded. The gunman also kills himself.

 Sept. 13, 2006: Kimveer Gill, 25, opens fire at Dawson College in Montreal, killing one woman and injuring 20 people.

 Aug. 30, 2006: 19-year-old man in Hillsborough, N.C., kills father, then opens fire at Orange High School, wounding two students before surrendering to police.

 March 14, 2006: 14-year-old boy in Reno, Nev., bring's father's revolver to Pine Middle School and wounds two classmates.

 Jan. 13, 2006: 15-year-old boy at Milwee Middle School in Longwood, Fla., holds class hostage at gunpoint before being fatally shot by police. It is later learned his weapon was a pellet gun.

 Nov. 8, 2005: Student at high school in Jacksboro, Tenn., shoots and kills assistant principal. Principal and another assistant principal wounded.

 March 21, 2005: 16-year-old boy in Red Lake, Minn., fatally shoots grandfather and grandfather's partner at home, then goes to Red Lake High School, where he kills five students, a teacher and a security guard before committing suicide.

 May 7, 2004: Two men, 18 and 24, shoot and wound four students at high school in Randallstown, Md.

 March 30, 2004: Student at Wallace High School in Gary, Ind., shot to death in school parking lot by classmate.

 Feb. 3, 2004: 14-year-old boy in Palmetto Bay, Fla., stabs and slits throat of 14-year-old classmate at Southwood Middle School.

 Feb. 2, 2004: 19-year-old man shoots to death 17-year-old boy at Ballou Senior High School in Washington, D.C.

 Sept. 24, 2003: 15-year-old boy shoots two classmates at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minn. One dies same day, other dies two weeks later.

 April 24, 2003: 14-year-old boy shoots principal to death in school cafeteria in Red Lion, Pa., before killing himself.

 March 5, 2001: 15-year-old freshman opens fire with .22-calibre pistol at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., killing two students and injuring 13 others.

 Jan. 10, 2001: 17-year-old gunman fires shots at Hueneme High School in Oxnard, Calif., before taking female student hostage. He is later shot and killed by police.

 May 26, 2000: 13-year-old honours student shoots and kills teacher on last day of classes in Lake Worth, Fla.

 April 20, 2000: Four students and one staff member wounded in knife attack at Cairine Wilson High School in Orleans, Ont. Occurs on first anniversary of Columbine massacre.

 Feb. 29, 2000: Six-year-old boy shoots six-year-old girl to death in Grade 1 classroom at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Mich. Because of his age, boy is not charged.

 Dec. 6, 1999: 13-year-old student fires at least 15 shots at Fort Gibson Middle School in Fort Gibson, Okla., wounding four classmates.

 Nov. 19, 1999: 12-year-old boy shoots 13-year-old girl in head at school in Deming, N.M. Girl dies next day.

 May 20, 1999: 15-year-old boy opens fire at Heritage High School in Conyers, Ga., with .357-calibre Magnum and rifle, wounding six students.

 April 28, 1999: 14-year-old boy shoots two students, one fatally, at W.R. Myers High School in Taber, Alta.

 April 20, 1999: Two heavily armed teenagers rampage through Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 students and one teacher before committing suicide.

 April 16, 1999: High school sophomore fires two shotgun blasts in school hallway in Notus, Idaho. No one injured.

 Feb. 8, 1999: Man fires shot at Woodland Elementary School in Verdun, Que. No one injured.

 May 21, 1998: 17-year-old boy kills parents, then goes to high school in Springfield, Ore., on shooting rampage, killing two teens and wounding more than 20 people.

 May 19, 1998: 18-year-old honours student opens fire at high school in Fayetteville, Tenn., killing classmate who was dating his ex-girlfriend.

 April 24, 1998: 15-year-old boy opens fire at eighth-grade dance in Edinboro, Pa., killing teacher.

 March 24, 1998: Four girls and teacher shot to death and 10 people wounded during false fire alarm at middle school in Jonesboro, Ark., when two boys, 11 and 13, open fire from woods.

 Dec. 1, 1997: Three students die and five wounded at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky., after 14-year-old boy opens fire.

 October 1997: 35-year-old man fatally shoots teacher at Montreal language school for immigrants.

 Oct. 1, 1997: 16-year-old boy in Pearl, Miss., shoots two students to death and wounds seven others after stabbing his mother to death.

 Feb. 19, 1997: 16-year-old boy takes shotgun and bag of shells to school in Bethel, Alaska, killing principal and student and wounding two others.

 October 1994: Two guidance counsellors at Brockton High School in Toronto shot and wounded by student unhappy with grades.

 June 1993: Teen wounded outside Gladstone Secondary School in Vancouver in drive-by shooting.

 Aug. 24, 1992: Valery Fabrikant, professor at Concordia University in Montreal, goes on shooting rampage at school, killing four colleagues and wounding one.

 February 1990: Jilted teenager shoots and wounds estranged girlfriend at General Brock High School in Burlington, Ont.

 December 1989: Marc Lepine, 25, shoots dead 14 women at University of Montreal's Ecole polytechnique engineering school, then kills himself.

 October 1978: 17-year-old student shoots 16-year-old to death at Sturgeon Creek Regional Secondary School in Winnipeg.

 Oct. 27, 1975: Robert Poulin, an 18-year-old militia sharpshooter, shoots six people at Ottawa's Saint Pius X school and then kills himself. One wounded student dies just over a month later. Poulin had killed a girl at a youth home before he went to the school.

 Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com

Photo: AP, AFP, New York times on the web