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(CNN) -- The victims came to Virginia Tech from different backgrounds and different continents.

Officials have begun to release the names of the 32 people shot and killed by a student on the college campus in Blacksburg, Virginia on Monday.

Ross Alameddine, 20, was a student from Saugus, Massachusetts. The sophomore English major was shot during French class, a family friend told The Associated Press. A Facebook page created in Alameddine's remembrance called him "an intelligent, funny, easygoing guy who will be greatly missed."

Ryan Clark, 22, was known as "Stack" to his friends in the Marching Virginians college band. The Virginia Tech senior came from Martinez in Georgia and was a "true example of 'The Spirit of Tech'," according to a message posted on the band's web site. He majored in biology and English, and carried a 4.0 grade-point average, according to the coroner in Columbia County, Georgia. Clark was a resident assistant at West Ambler Johnston Hall, the dormitory where he and another person were shot dead at 7:15 a.m. Monday. He had been planning to pursue a PhD in psychology with a focus in cognitive neuroscience, according to the Marching Viginains Web site.

Kevin Granata, age unknown, was one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy, the head of Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He served in the military and conducted orthopedic research in hospitals before coming to Virginia Tech, according to AP. Granata's academic career included stints at the Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University, University of Virginia and Wake Forest University. "With so many research projects and graduate students, he still found time to spend with his family, and he coached his children in many sports and extracurricular activities," enginerring professor Demetri P. Telionis told AP.

Matthew La Porte, 20, of Dumont, New Jersey, was studying political science and French at Virginia Tech. HE was also a member of the Corps of Cadets, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets band, the Highty-Tighties and the U.S. Air Force ROTC, according to his Myspace page.

Liviu Librescu, 76, was a Holocaust survivor, who his son said, will be remembrered as a hero. He "blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu told AP. "Students started opening windows and jumping out." The elder Librescu, a professor at Virginia Tech, was recognized internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, the head of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech told AP. He was born and received his advanced degrees in Romania.

G.V. Loganathan, 51, was a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Since coming to Virginia Tech in 1982, he earned the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education, according to his biography on the Virginia Tech Web site. Loganathan, of Tamil Nadu, India, lived with his wife and children on Virginia Tech's campus, according to the Times of India.

Juan Ortiz, student, according to Dr. William Knocke of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Jarrett Lane, student, according to Dr. William Knocke of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Erin Peterson, student, Centreville, Virginia

Reema Joseph Samaha, student

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BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday.

Cho left a long and vitriolic note in his dorm room, law enforcement sources told ABC News. It contains an explanation of his actions and states, "You caused me to do this," ABC News reported.

It also railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus, according to the Chicago Tribune.

University officials said they were still trying to determine whether Cho was responsible for a shooting earlier Monday that left two dead at a dormitory.

However, Flinchum said ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was used at Norris and at the dorm, both located on the 26,000-student campus.

Authorities are still investigating whether Cho had any accomplices in planning or executing Monday's rampage, Col. Steven Flaherty of the Virginia State Police said.

"It certainly is reasonable for us to assume that Cho was the shooter in both places, but we don't have the evidence to take us there at this particular point in time," Flaherty said.

Cho, a 23-year-old South Korean and resident alien, was an English major who lived at the university's Harper Hall, Flinchum said.

"He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," said Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.

Cho came to the United States in 1992, through Detroit, Michigan, a department of Homeland Security official said. He had lawful permanent residence, via his parents, and renewed his green card in October 2003, the official said.

His residence was listed as Centreville, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

The university and police are still in the process of releasing the names of those killed in Monday's shootings.

"What went on during that incident certainly caused tremendous chaos and panic in Norris Hall," Flaherty said, describing how victims were found in four classrooms and in the stairwell of the school's engineering science and mechanics building.

Doctor recalls 'amazing' injuries

A doctor at a Blacksburg hospital described the injuries he saw Monday as "amazing" and the shooter as "brutal."

"There wasn't a shooting victim that didn't have less than three bullet wounds in them," said Dr. Joseph Cacioppo of Montgomery Regional Hospital.

A source familiar with the investigation said the weapons found at Norris were a Walther .22-caliber semi-automatic and a 9 mm Glock -- both with the serial numbers filed off.

As questions continued to arise about how police reacted to the first shooting at the dorm, university President Charles Steger on Tuesday defended the response, saying police believed it to be "a domestic fight, perhaps a murder-suicide" that was contained to one dorm room.

Police cordoned off the 895-student West Ambler Johnston dorm and all residents were told about the shooting as police looked for witnesses, Steger said.

Authorities were still investigating what they believed was an "isolated incident" when the slaughter occurred at Norris Hall.

"I don't think anyone could have predicted that another event was going to take place two hours later," Steger said, adding that it would've been difficult to warn every student because most were off campus at the time.

Steger told reporters Monday that when police responded to Norris Hall they found the front doors chained shut. The gunfire had stopped by the time they reached the second floor, he said.

The gunman killed 31 people, including himself, and wounded 15 in Norris Hall classrooms.

Student heard clip drop to ground

Zach Petkewicz was in class when the shooting at Norris began and "everyone went into a frenzy, a panic." Petkewicz was hiding behind a podium when he realized there was nothing preventing the shooter from entering the classroom and barked to his classmates, "We need to barricade this door.

Two students joined him in throwing tables against the door and wedging their weight behind them, just as the gunman cracked open the door.

When the students slammed the door in his face, "he backed up and shot twice into the middle of the door thinking we were up against it," Petkewicz said.

"I was up against the side holding this desk up against there and I just heard his clip drop to the ground and he reloaded, and I thought he was coming back for a second round, to try and get his way in there," he said. "He didn't say a word, and he just turned and kept firing down the hall and didn't try to get back in."

As of midday Tuesday, officials were still releasing the names of those killed, which include a marching band member from Georgia and an Israeli Holocaust survivor who headed the engineering and science department.

The university has scheduled a convocation for 2 p.m. ET Tuesday. President Bush and the first lady are scheduled to attend.

Classes have been canceled for the rest of the week, and Norris Hall will be closed for the remainder of the semester, Steger said. Student Emily Alderman said students were sending out instant messages urging each other to wear their Virginia Tech Hokie gear in a sign of unity.

There have been two bomb threats at the university this month, the latest of which came Friday. Flinchum said Tuesday they were unrelated to the shootings.

Last August, the first day of class was cut short at Virginia Tech by a manhunt for an escaped prisoner accused of killing a Blacksburg hospital security guard and a sheriff's deputy.

Before Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States occurred in 1991, when George Hennard drove a pickup truck into a Killeen, Texas, cafeteria and fatally shot 23 people, before shooting and killing himself.