The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho responded to the tragedy on Friday, saying they are "hopeless, helpless and lost" by the massacre caused by the hands of their loved one.
Sun-Kyung Cho, the sister of the gunman, issued a statement on behalf of her family saying, "We are humbled by this darkness."
"He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare."
It was the first time the immediate family of Cho has responded after the 23-year-old student fatally shot 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus and then took his own life.
The statement said the family prays daily for the lives lost, those still recovering in hospital, and those who bare the emotional scars of witnessing the event.
Apologies were profuse in the document: "Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us."
Raleigh, N.C., lawyer Wade Smith provided the statement to The Associated Press after he was contacted by the Cho family.
Smith declined to answer any questions about the family and maintained Cho's relatives would not be fielding any inquires.
Sun-Kyung Cho, a 2004 Princeton graduate, is an employee of the State Department office, which coordinates aid for soldiers in Iraq.
In the statement, she maintained that the family was tight knit and had no idea the depth to which Cho was disturbed.
"We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence."
"This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person," she wrote in the statement.
"There is much justified anger and disbelief at what my brother did, and a lot of questions are left unanswered."
The family's location is unknown but sources say they are currently under the protection of authorities.
"Our family will continue to cooperate fully and do whatever we can to help authorities understand why these senseless acts happened. We have many unanswered questions as well."
The statement was issued during a national day of mourning for the victims of the largest shooting spree in U.S. history.
Earlier on Friday, the Virginia Tech campus was shrouded in silence as mourners congregated around 33 stones representing those who lost their lives outside of Norris Hall.
Church bells tolled throughout the country as participants wearing the school colours of maroon and orange carried baskets of tulips decorated with American flags onto campus with bowed heads.
Friday also marked the eighth anniversary of the Columbine shootings where two teenaged gunmen stormed their high-school and shot to death 12 of their classmates before killing themselves.
With files from the Associated Press
