A Virginia Tech student was murdered in the campus' Graduate Life Center (GLC) Wednesday evening, Jan. 21, the second day of classes for students. According to the Richmond-Times Dispatch, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu, an international graduate student from China, was charged in the stabbing. Police have also recovered the knife that they believe to be the murder weapon. According to ABC 13, police were called to the ground floor of the GLC after a report of a woman being assaulted.
They found Xin Yang, also an international graduate student from China, dead and decapitated. They then took Zhu, who was a teaching assistant at the school, into custody. According to the Washington Post usually international students are paired with other international students who have been at the school at least one semester. Yang was assigned Zhu, and he spent the next two weeks showing her around campus. Yang ended up listing Zhu as one of two people to contact in case of an emergency.
According to WSLS Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker, the police were notified at 7:06 p.m., claiming a woman was being assaulted in the Au Bon Pain cafe at the GLC. The police arrived at the scene at 7:10 p.m. The Washington Post reported that authorities gave this account: "Virginia Tech police, responding to two frantic 911 calls about 7 p.m. Wednesday, found Zhu standing in the Au Bon Pain cafe on campus, with Yang's severed head in his hands, according to an affidavit. A large, bloody kitchen knife lay nearby, and Zhu's backpack, on the floor, was filled with other sharp weapons. Seven people witnessed the attack, which came without as much as a raised voice as the two drank coffee."
No motive has been determined. According to the Associated Press Officials searched Zhu's apartment and investigators found a camera, computer file storage equipment and phone records, according to court documents filed Friday. Investigators took a computer, cell phone, camera, planners and a diary from Yang's room. Zhu seemed very frustrated about money issues. Zhu's landlord Will Segar said Zhu refused to turn on the heat, and his pipes ended up freezing and bursting. When Segar installed a thermostat, Zhu shut off a breaker in the electric box so the heat wouldn't run.
The Associated Press said Virginia Tech police were trying to verify the authenticity of a posting on a Chinese-language blog earlier this month under the name Haiyang Zhu that expressed frustration over problems including stock losses, Chief Wendell Flinchum said Friday. The Jan. 7 posting said, "Recently I've been so frustrated I think only of killing someone or committing suicide." After the April 2007 shooting spree that left 33 people dead, Virginia Tech reexamined its emergency alert system. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, in November, many of the subscribers never received notice of an incident on campus that turned out to be a false alarm. Tech ran a test three weeks later, and the kinks seemed to have been worked out. Tech was satisfied with their alert system.
At 7:44 p.m. the day of the attack the school issued this statement: "VT Police have confirmed a murder in the Graduate Life Center. A suspect is in custody. Stay where you are and stay vigilant. Stay away from the GLC." At 8:37 p.m., a second message went out: "The VT PD have a suspect in custody. Please avoid the vicinity of the Graduate Life Center. Otherwise, resume your normal activity."
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said the 7:44 p.m. notification was sent as 60,000 messages - e-mail, voice mail and text - and it took 33 minutes to reach all subscribers. The second notification went out in 67,000 messages (subscribers can choose to receive alerts in more than one way) and also made it to recipients in 33 minutes.
According to a Facebook wall post from 9:16 p.m. Jan. 21, Virginia Tech freshman Azure McFarlane wrote that the GLC "houses graduates, and people can go there to study" and is across the street from where she lives. "Around 7:45 p.m. someone was stabbed to death in the café Au Bon Pain. We didn't start getting alerts till around 8:30 or so. So far that's all we know," McFarlane said.
A pre-hearing is set for March 5. Zhu is being charged with first-degree murder. His attorney, Stephanie Cox, has not returned calls seeking comment for the Associated Press.
Xin Yang (Left) was beheaded in a cafe at Virginia Tech by Halyang Zhu (Right) last week, almost two years after 32 were killed in a campus shooting.
