Va. Tech killer bought magazines on eBay, gun online

Computerworld - Cho Seung-Hui, killer of 32 on the Virginia Tech campus last week, bought at least five 10-shot magazine clips on eBay Inc.'s Web site for one of the two guns he used, the same gun he purchased in February from a Wisconsin online dealer.

Cho first purchased two 10-round clips for a Walther P22, a .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol, on March 22 from eBay seller "bullelk14," which is an account associated with Elk Ridge Shooting Supply, a Rigby, Idaho-based eBay store whose owner touts it as a "small family-owned business." According to eBay records, Cho paid $38.99 plus $5.75 shipping.

The second eBay transaction was finalized the next day, March 23, when Cho bought three more 10-round clips for a P22, this time from eBay seller "oneclickshooting" for $59.99.

Police have said that Cho was armed with two semiautomatic pistols, a Walther P22 and a Glock Model 19 9-millimeter. Media reports have said Cho picked up the P22 February 8 at a pawn shop in Blacksburg, Va., and bought the Glock at a Roanoke, Va., gun shop on March 12. Virginia law prohibits the purchase of more than one firearm in a 30-day period.

Cho's eBay username came to light Friday when investigators filed a search warrant affidavit that asked to search the killer's e-mail accounts, including his Blazers5505@hotmail.com account. Cho used the same name for an eBay account -- blazers5505 -- the San Jose-based company confirmed confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday. Company representatives were not available for comment Sunday.

EBay records show that blazers5505 had conducted 64 transactions, many of them as the seller, and received feedback with a positive rating of 98.5%. The feedback comment provided by bullelk14, the seller who sold Cho the first two clips, read: "Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended." Oneclickshooting added, "great transaction good eBay A++."

The magazine clips Cho bought online were empty; eBay does not allow the sale of weapons or ammunition.

Federal law does not permit the sale of firearms direct to buyers via online or mail-order, although sales are allowed when a registered firearm dealer acts as intermediary to physically deliver the weapon and complete the paperwork. According to articles in The Roanoke Times, Cho purchased the Walther P22 from the TGSCOM Inc., a Green Bay, Wisc.-based online firearms dealer that operates a pair of Web sites: TopGlock.com and TheGunSource.com. Both sites sell the P22 for $274.32.

Cho picked up the P22 at the Blacksburg pawn shop, where the state and federal background checks were also conducted and final papers filled out.

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