Gunman's Writings Presaged Rampage

"I don't think there's any doubt there is a direct line between the games and the behavior," said Stu Auty, president of the Toronto-based Canadian Safe School Network. "When you teach kids how to shoot guns, represent behavior and show how to commit murder, that's not a good thing."

"These games are very dangerous," said Jack Thompson, a Miami lawyer who has campaigned for legal action against the makers of the games. "No one would say that playing a video game turned an angel into a devil. But these murder simulators can bend you in such a way that not only do you have increased appetite to be violent but you have killing skills."

Witnesses reported that the gunman Wednesday seemed to have a blank expression. "He was in a game mode. He was basically playing the game," Thompson said.

"Video games are an easy target," said Danny Ledonne, a 24-year-old Colorado filmmaker who invented the Super Columbine Massacre RPG game. "There was a time when music was seen as the work of the devil. Now it's video games. Our culture is quick to blame video games because they are the least understood of our entertainment."

Gill's fascination with Goth also focused the media spotlight here on that culture, which revels in dark sentiments, somber black clothes and weepy, eyeliner-painted eyes.

"People shouldn't judge all Goths by one person's actions," said Ryan Gratton, 17, a Montreal student in Goth clothing who brought roses to the site of the shooting Thursday. "Not all people who dress in Goth want to kill. He was a troubled soul."

"I don't experience Goths as being violent. It's not part of the subculture," said Nancy Kilpatrick of Montreal, author of "The Goth Bible. "Usually they are open to other people, kind and even funny."

Special correspondent Natalia Alexandrova in Toronto and staff writer Jose Antonio Vargas in Washington contributed to this report.