April 19, 2007 — -- Since Monday's fatal shooting at Virginia Tech, there have been threats of similar attacks at school and college campuses throughout the United States. Thirty-three people were killed in the Virginia Tech massacre including the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho.
In a tape sent to NBC News, Cho expressed his admiration for Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the young men responsible for killing 12 students at Columbine High School in Colorado on April 20, 1999. Similarly Harris had expressed admiration for the April 19, 1995, bombings in Oklahoma City.
Authorities are now wary of more copycats. Below is a compilation of the various threats since the Virginia Tech shootings from different news sources:
Cook, who attended the school, turned the gun on himself when police confronted him at a gas station, and later died. Every school in the area was locked down after the shooting.
A threatening note was found in a girls' bathroom, school officials said. Earlier in the day, the school received several bomb threat phone messages. School officials traced the calls using caller ID, and police later cited Lester Beason, 27, for misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Authorities said Beason didn't intend to carry out the threats, but instead needed medication.
At the same high school, a student found the threatening note at 12:15 p.m. on a toilet paper dispenser in a girls' bathroom. The note said "the shooting would start at Great Falls High at 12:30 and it would be worse than Virginia Tech." The school was locked down within minutes. Police searched the building and found no firearms, and students were allowed back in.
