Bells were set to toll in the United States Friday marking a day of mourning for 32 students and teachers shot dead on a Virginia university campus by a deranged student.
The day of religious services and commemorations comes amid burning questions over how South Korea-born Cho Seung-Hui, who had been treated for mental health problems, was able to buy two guns and ammunition, and continue his studies unchecked at Virginia Tech.
"I ask that everyone in Virginia pause at noon on Friday to offer prayers of support for the victims, their families, and for all those affected by this tragedy," Virginia Governor Tim Kaine said. In bright sunshine early Friday, residents emerged from their homes wearing the university's trademark maroon and orange colors.
Stores have also reported heavy sales of gear such as football jerseys, T-shirts and pullovers bearing the school's "Hokie" nickname. "We are all Hokies now," was the motto for the day, scrawled on posters in Virginia storefronts and memorial websites on the Internet.
Masses, prayers and memorial services were being planned around the country on Friday by the university's alumni, with a special prayer service for the victims to be held on Sunday in the Washington National Cathedral in the US capital.
In Michigan, the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce was to stage a candlelight vigil late Friday for Lebanese-American students Reema Samaha and Ross Alameddine, both mowed down in Cho's hail of gunfire.
The governors of Georgia and Colorado have also urged churches to ring their bells at noon eastern time (1600 GMT) on Friday. The memorial day falls on the eighth anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, and one day after the 12th anniversary of the bombing of a government office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that killed 168.
In a nation still healing from the September 11, 2001 attacks, Monday's killing spree at Virginia Tech was also written into the annals of US history as the country's deadliest school shooting. In a ranting, hate-filled final manifesto sent to a US television network, Cho made reference to the two Columbine killers who on April 20, 1999 killed 12 classmates and a teacher, before dying themselves.
In the search for answers to Monday's carnage in Virginia, Kaine, the state's governor, has set up an independent panel to investigate the massacre. Fellow students and professors described Cho as a sullen loner and his violent writings and intimidating manner raised alarm bells among some professors long before the attacks.
He was committed to a mental institution in December 2005 after one of two stalking incidents, but was released the next day for outpatient treatment after he was deemed not to be a danger to others. But in the disturbing videos recorded before his bloody spree and broadcast late Wednesday on national television, a clearly unbalanced Cho brandishes the murder weapons and paints himself as a long-suffering martyr like Jesus Christ.
Kaine said the panel would seek to discover "everything we know" about Cho, including his dealings with the mental health system and the type of treatment he received.
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