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The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead apparently killed two female students who had graduated from the same Northern Virginia high school as the shooter, but there was no information available from law enforcement on whether he knew the two women and singled them out.

Meanwhile, a chilling portrait of the gunman as a loner and misfit is beginning to emerge, according to various media reports.

Police identified the gunman in the classroom attack as 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui (pronounced Choh Suhng-whee). Cho held a green card鈥攎eaning he was a legal, permanent U.S. resident鈥攁nd had been in the United States for about 15 years, federal officials said.

Mr. Cho, who graduated from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., in 2003, had been living in the United States since 1992. The two female victims from Westfield High, Reema Samaha and Erin Peterson, graduated from the high school in 2006.

Mr. Cho鈥檚 family lives in Centreville, Va., a Washington suburb, but he was living on campus, in a different dorm from the one where the bloodbath began, university officials said.

One law enforcement official said Mr. Cho鈥檚 backpack contained a receipt for a March purchase of a Glock 9 mm pistol. As a permanent legal resident of the United States, Cho was eligible to buy a handgun unless he had been convicted of a felony.

Investigators stopped short of saying Mr. Cho carried out both attacks. But ballistics tests show one gun was used in both, Virginia State Police said.

Mr. Cho, an English major, was referred to the university鈥檚 counseling service because some of his creative writing was seen as disturbing by his professors.

Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university鈥檚 English department, said she did not personally know the gunman. But she said she spoke with Lucinda Roy, the department鈥檚 director of creative writing, who had Mr. Cho in one of her classes and described him as 鈥渢roubled.鈥�

鈥淭here was some concern about him,鈥� Ms. Rude said. 鈥淪ometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it鈥檚 creative or if they鈥檙e describing things, if they鈥檙e imagining things or just how real it might be. But we鈥檙e all alert to not ignore things like this.鈥�

She said Mr. Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was. Ms. Rude refused to release any of his writings or his grades, citing privacy laws.

The Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site that he left a note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances. The Tribune said he had recently shown troubling signs, including setting a fire in a dorm room and stalking some women. ABC reported that the note he left, several pages long, explains Mr. Cho鈥檚 actions and says, 鈥淵ou caused me to do this.鈥�

Investigators believe Mr. Cho at some point had been taking medication for depression, the Tribune reported.

Neighbors in the community where he attended high school also saw him as a troubled person. 鈥淗e was very quiet, always by himself,鈥� neighbor Abdul Shash said of the gunman.

Mr. Shash said the gunman spent a lot of his free time playing basketball, and wouldn鈥檛 respond if someone greeted him. He described the family as quiet.

South Korea Expresses Condolences

South Korea鈥檚 Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences, and said South Korea hoped that the tragedy would not 鈥渟tir up racial prejudice or confrontation.鈥�

鈥淲e are in shock beyond description,鈥� said Cho Byung-se, a ministry official handling North American affairs. 鈥淲e convey deep condolences to victims, families and the American people.鈥�

A memorial service was planned for the victims today at the university, and President Bush planned to attend, the White House said. Gov. Tim Kaine was flying back to Virginia from Tokyo for the gathering.

Classes were canceled for the rest of the week.

Many Virginia Tech students were leaving town quickly, lugging pillows, sleeping bags and backpacks down the sidewalks.

Jessie Ferguson, 19, a freshman from Arlington, Va., headed for her car with tears streaming down her red cheeks.

鈥淚鈥檓 still kind of shaky,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 had to pump myself up just to kind of come out of the building. I was going to come out, but it took a little bit of 鈥極K, it鈥檚 going to be all right. There鈥檚 lots of cops around.鈥欌��

Will Nachlas, 19, a freshman from Hershey, Pa., sat on a bench, waiting for a ride.

鈥淭he majority of people are leaving campus, trying to get away,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ots of people are going home, and lots of people鈥檚 parents took them home. They don鈥檛 even know when they鈥檒l come back.鈥�

E-Mail Warning Seen as Too Late

The first deadly attack was at a dormitory around 7:15 a.m., but some students said they didn鈥檛 get their first warning about a danger on campus until two hours later, in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m. By then the second attack had begun.

University President Charles 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.

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.

鈥淲e can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don鈥檛 have hours to reflect on it,鈥� Steger said.

Derek O鈥橠ell, his arm in a cast after being shot, described a shooter who fired away in 鈥渆erily silence鈥� with 鈥渘o specific target鈥� just taking out anybody he could.鈥�

Until Monday, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby鈥檚 Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage that took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the 28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death by police.

Roanoke Firearms owner John Markell said his shop sold the Glock and a box of practice ammunition to Mr. Cho 36 days ago for $571. 鈥淗e was a nice, clean-cut college kid,鈥� Mr. Markell said. 鈥淲e won鈥檛 sell a gun if we have any idea at all that a purchase is suspicious. To find out the gun came from my shop is just terrible.鈥�