BLACKSBURG, Virginia — The gunman who killed 30 people at a Virginia Tech building was “well-prepared” to continue his shooting spree, with more than 200 additional rounds of ammunition, a state panel was told yesterday.Police found 203 live rounds in Norris Hall, where Seung-Hui Cho killed 25 students and five faculty members before committing suicide on April 16, State Police Superintendent William Flaherty told a panel investigating the massacre. Cho shot two other students in a dormitory earlier that morning.

“He was well-prepared to continue on,” Flaherty said.

Cho fired 174 shots from two handguns on the second floor of Norris Hall in nine minutes, taking his own life at 9.51 a.m. as police approached on the stairs, Flaherty said.

Asked to describe Cho’s shooting method, Flaherty said, “I would describe it as very deliberate. There seemed to be nothing panicky at all.”

Earlier, after hearing testimony from a Virginia Tech attorney that privacy laws prohibit release of students’ mental health and other records, panel member Tom Ridge said the group needs to find a way to gain access to Cho’s records.

“We’d be remiss if we didn’t do a real deep dive into this area,” said Ridge, the former US Homeland Security chief.

Cho was found “mentally ill and in need of hospitalisation” in December 2005, according to court papers. A judge ordered him into involuntary outpatient treatment, but there is no indication that Cho complied.

Panel chairman W. Gerald Massengill said the panel would be willing to receive the information in closed session if necessary.

Cho’s family, which would have access to the records, has co-operated so far, Flaherty told reporters.

Earlier yesterday, the panel visited the two buildings where the shootings occurred. The tour included a more than two-hour private briefing, featuring a presentation by Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum, who led the initial response to the shootings.

Such information will not be made public until police meet with victims’ families, Flaherty said.

“I’ve seen and heard a lot in my career,” said Massengill, a former Virginia State Police superintendent who oversaw the agency’s response to the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon and the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks. “This is almost indescribable.”

The briefing and tour were closed under provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act that protect students’ privacy and briefings by law enforcement agencies. Reporters for several news organisations had objected, saying it did not appear the grounds for closing the meeting were properly applied in this case.

During the open portion of the meeting, Massengill asked Tech president Charles Steger whether he thought the contents of the first e-mail the school sent to students and employees should have been more specific. The mass e-mail sent at 9.26 a.m. — more than two hours after the first shooting — said police were investigating a shooting and warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.