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BLACKSBURG : US President George W. Bush on Tuesday assured thousands of mourners for the victims of the deadliest school shooting in US history that he and the entire United States grieved with them.
"In this time of anguish, I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you," said Bush, who came with First Lady Laura Bush to pay a sombre tribute to the 32 slain at Virginia Tech University.
"Laura and I have come to Blacksburg today with hearts full of sorrow. This is a day of mourning for the Virginia Tech community, and it is a day of sadness for our entire nation," said the US president.
Some students and staff at Virginia Tech sat sombrely, while others held their heads in their hands or sobbed openly one day after a South Korean student gunned down 32 people before taking his own life.
"As a dad, I can assure you, a parent's love is never far from their child's heart," said Bush, the father of twin daughters. "And as you draw closer to your own families in the coming days, I ask you to reach out to those who ache for sons and daughters who will never come home."
Many in 10,000-seat Cassell Coliseum wore the school's burnt orange and maroon colours to honour those slain on what Bush described as a routine day that took a "dark turn" into a bloody nightmare that made global headlines.
"Yesterday began like any other day: Students woke up and they grabbed their backpacks and they headed for class. And soon the day took a dark turn, with students and faculty barricading themselves in classrooms and dormitories, confused, terrified and deeply worried," said the president.
"By the end of the morning, it was the worst day of violence on a college campus in American history. And for many of you here today, it was the worst day of your lives," he said.
Bush and wife Laura were among the high-profile audience members, as was Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who cut short an official trip to Asia after being awakened with the grim news from home.
The Virginia Tech corps of cadets marched into the coliseum solemnly to a muffled funeral drum beat. Vast floral wreaths on easels could be seen. Some students hugged each other as speaker after speaker praised the university's sense of community.
"I'm here to show my support for the victims and to stand together," said graduate student Kerri Symons, 21.
Earlier, police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student majoring in English, as the gunman behind the shooting at the university in Blacksburg, Virginia.
He killed 30 people in a classroom building before turning the gun on himself, police said, adding that they suspect he had also killed two other people moments earlier in another campus building.
"It's impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering. Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Bush.
"Now they're gone, and they leave behind grieving families and grieving classmates and a grieving nation," he said.
"And on this terrible day of mourning, it's hard to imagine that a time will come when life at Virginia Tech will return to normal. But such a day will come.
"And when it does, you will always remember the friends and teachers who were lost yesterday and the time you shared with them and the lives that they hoped to lead.
"May God bless you. May God bless and keep the souls of the lost. And may his love touch all those who suffer in grief," said Bush. - AFP/de
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