Tech slaying suspect had visited counseling center
Published: January 29, 2009
TheVirginia Tech graduate student accused of beheading another graduatestudent on campus last week had visited the school's counseling center,according to court documents filed this week.
It's unclear why Haiyang Zhu, 25, went to the Cook CounselingCenter, or when, but investigators obtained his patient records fromthe mental-health facility after receiving information that he had"received treatment or counseling" at the center, according to anaffidavit for a search warrant filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
Investigators found "psychological brochures" at his apartment when they searched it last week, according to the document.
Authorities allege Zhu, a Chinese student who arrived at Tech lastfall, attacked fellow graduate student Xin Yang, 22, also from China,with a kitchen knife in the Au Bon Pain café in the Graduate LifeCenter on Jan. 21. When a police officer arrived, she saw Zhu holdingYang's severed head in his hand.
Zhu has been charged with first-degree murder.
School authorities said last week that Zhu had not come to theattention of campus police, Blacksburg police, or the university'sThreat Assessment Team.
But Zhu's landlord told The Richmond Times-Dispatch that he hadunsuccessfully tried to persuade a Blacksburg police officer to talk toZhu about his belligerent behavior to other tenants of his apartmentcomplex.
-- Rex Bowman
