Federal investigators told NBC News’ Pete Williams that they believed the man was a Virginia Tech student in his early 20s. Their identification was delayed for several hours, they said, because the man’s face was disfigured when he shot himself, he carried no ID and an initial check on his fingerprints came up empty.
The man’s two guns, which were bought in Virginia and whose serial numbers had been obliterated, were to be examined at a laboratory of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Williams reported, citing federal law enforcement officials. That examination was also delayed because authorities had to drive the guns to the lab in the suburbs of Washington after high winds precluded them from using an airplane.
the manの二丁拳銃は、バージニアで購入されたもので、それらのシリアルナンバーはobliteratedされてしまっていたが、 FBIのラボでアルコール、タバコ、銃創痕の鑑定にかけられるべきだった、とウィリアムは報告しており、FLEOをciteした。 これらの鑑定も当局が二丁をワシントン郊外のラボに、強風で航空機がprecludedだった後で届けられなければならなかった。