Va. Tech stabbing suspect charged with murder

[January 22, 2009]  BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A graduate student from China has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of a female student on Virginia Tech's campus, the first killing there since a deadly mass shooting in 2007.

An electronic alert system revamped after the massacre warned students to stay in place while police investigated the incident around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday -- about half an hour after the suspect was taken into custody. They were cleared to resume normal activity about an hour later.

The woman, who was also a graduate student but was not identified, was stabbed to death at a cafe in the Graduate Life Center. Police believe she knew the man accused of attacking her, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu, the school said in a news release. He was charged with first-degree murder and was being held without bond.

It was unclear early Thursday morning where he was being held or whether he had an attorney.

Campus police were called to the scene around 7:06 p.m., and Zhu was taken into custody minutes later, the school said. Responding officers found him and a knife they believe was used at the scene.

Students who live in the building were allowed to come and go, but others were asked to stay away from the area. The hall would re-open later Thursday morning, the school said.

Virginia Tech added text messages and other ways of warning students of possible danger to its system of e-mail alerts after Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself in April 2007.

The revamped alert system was first used last November when an exploded cartridge from a nail gun produced sounds similar to gunfire near a dormitory. During that scare, police searched a residence hall before determining the sounds came from the tool.

[Associated Press]

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