Last week, CNN reported that Virginia Tech's mass murderer, Seung-Hui Cho, shopped here for his ammunition. At least two local media outlets grabbed the tale. But was it really true?

On April 19, Charlottesville's CBS19, citing CNN, claimed that Dick's Sporting Goods in Charlottesville was the source of bullets used in the murders at Virginia Tech and asked shoppers how they felt about the report. The Daily Progress repeated the tale the next day, along with a mention that Dick's and the Virginia State Police refused to confirm or deny the report.

However, an April 19 account in the Washington Post reported that Cho purchased bullets at a Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Blacksburg and at the Dick's Sporting Goods in Christiansburg.

Christiansburg is a mere 15 minutes from Blacksburg, more accessible to a Virginia Tech student than Charlottesville, two and a half hours away-- especially a student with no car whose parents drove him four hours each way from their Fairfax County home to college.

So did Cho really travel here, or did CNN simply confuse "Charlottesville" and "Christiansburg"?

"No one at Dick's has talked to anyone at CNN," says Jeff Hennion, chief marketing officer at the sporting goods chain. He declined comment on the accuracy of the CNN report because of the ongoing police investigation, but suggests, "The best thing I can do is ask you to ask CNN where they got this info."

"The information regarding Charlottesville came from a source," Megan Mahoney in CNN public relations told the Hook on April 20. "The producers are trying to track down that person but can't reach the source."

At press time Mahoney had not returned a call requesting confirmation of the report. But that didn't stop some local media from running the information.

"The story we're doing is reaction to what CNN reported," explains Griff Benner, assistant news director at CBS19. "A lot of people heard it." Daily Progress editor McGregor McCance did not immediately respond to a telephone call.

There were very specific media accounts identifying where Cho bought his handguns: the .22-caliber Walther pistol February 9 at a pawn shop on Main Street in Blacksburg, and the Glock 19 March 16 at Roanoke Firearms. The Post also reported that Cho bought two empty magazine clips on eBay.

"It certainly didn't come from us," says Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller. "We're not making any statements about where he purchased his firearms."

Geller says police will release more information on the case April 25, perhaps clearing up the mystery of why Cho would travel to Charlottesville to buy bullets available in his own backyard.

Source or red herring?
PHOTO BY LUCIE STONE

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