Cho wrote paper on shooting before rampage

BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Hui wrote a paper about a gunman preparing for a school shooting one year before he carried out the crime.

Sources familiar with the paper Cho wrote for his Virginia Tech English class said it contained "eerie" parallels to the student's April 16 shooting spree, in which he killed 32 students and faculty members before he taking his own life, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The sources said the paper followed a fictional protagonist who plans a mass school shooting but chooses not to go through with the crime. They said portions of the paper were later echoed in the video he made the morning of the shooting.

A university source said faculty members were aware of the paper but it was not turned over to the investigative panel appointed by Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine, D, until last weekend.

Virginia State Police officials said a copy of the paper obtained by them could not be handed over to the panel due to a state law barring them from turning over portions of the investigative file.