John Markell said his store clerk noticed nothing about Cho's behaviour to give him any reason to turn down the purchase of a Glock handgun five weeks ago.
BLACKSBURG: The owner of the store where gunman Cho Seung-hui bought one of the pistols used in Monday's US university shooting said he feels numb over the tragedy, but not responsible.
John Markell, the owner of Roanoke Firearms in Virginia, told the New York Daily News that his store clerk noticed nothing about Cho's behaviour to give him any reason to turn down the purchase of a Glock handgun five weeks ago.
"I don't feel I'm responsible, but I just feel terrible he used one of our guns," Markell said.
The 58-year-old store owner said he felt "pretty numb" when government officials told him that one of his guns had been used in the shooting.
"I was already just torn up over the tragedy," he said.
Markell was not at the store when Cho bought the 9mm handgun from one of his clerks, but he cashed Cho's check for the purchase of the 571-dollar gun.
Markell said Cho had shown a Virginia driver's license, his checkbook and an immigration card and passed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's instant background checker -- meaning there was no reason to refuse his purchase.
"It was a very unremarkable sale," The New York Post quoted Markell as saying. "He was a nice, clean-cut college kid. We won't sell a gun if we have any idea at all that a purchase is suspicious."
The store stocks an impressive array of weaponry, its inventory of some 350 guns includes handguns, assault and sniper rifles. Its front door has a picture of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the crosshairs of a sniper's scope.
It is not the first time one of Markell's guns has been used in a crime. Four other guns he sold in the past were later used in homicides, Markell was reported as saying.
The shocked gun store owner was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. A clerk said the store was besieged by television film crews and head been bombarded by interview requests.
Markell told the Daily News he was ready to get out of the gun store business after Monday's tragedy. "I'd sell cheap today," he told the newspaper.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}