Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, expressed his "deepest concern and prayer support for the students and faculty of Virginia Tech as well as for the townspeople."

"When tragedy like this occurs, sometimes people look to the Lord, and I pray that all will do so and find the comfort that only He can bring to their hearts," Page said in a statement to Baptist Press. "At the same time, Southern Baptists stand ready to help in any way that we can to assist and encourage these victims and their families. We are all shocked and horrified at this egregious expression of violence. Our prayers and love are with all those affected by this tragedy."

Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called the massacre "a brutal reminder that life is fragile and that evil exists in our world" and pointed to the hope found in Christ's resurrection during a time of intense trial.

"While such an event is troublesome for a believer, for those who are not people of strong religious faith the random and horrific nature of this violence is going to be much more difficult to handle," Land said. "It is my fervent prayer that Christians on the Virginia Tech campus will, in God's strength, reach out to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of their fellow students in this dark hour.

"The staff of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission joins all believing Americans in lifting up in prayer to our Almighty God all those whose hearts are broken over the bloodshed and whose lives are shattered because of this terrible tragedy," Land said. "May they find comfort in our Father's arms."

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said Christians cannot shrink from calling the shootings evil.

"One of the things we have to say is that we understand that the Bible never flinches from dealing with evil as evil," Mohler said during the seminary's chapel service April 17. "There is no euphemism in the Scripture. There is no glancing away from the reality. There is the honest assessment that evil is not only as evil as it appears; it is far more evil than we could imagine. For it is not only what we do to each other. It is our effort to rob God of His own glory."

When speaking about tragedy, Christians must never stop with the message of sin but also must explain that sending Christ to die on the cross was God's answer to evil, Mohler said, adding that Jesus accepted upon Himself God's wrath against evil.

The gunman was identified as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English at Virginia Tech. Cho was a legal immigrant from South Korea, and The Chicago Tribune said he left a note in his dorm room railing against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. Acquaintances told authorities Cho's behavior in recent weeks had become increasingly violent and erratic, and his creative writing pieces in English class were "disturbing."

Cho allegedly opened fire in a dormitory around 7:15 a.m. Monday, killing two people. Two hours later, shots were fired in multiple classrooms in the school's engineering building before the gunman killed himself in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

With reporting by Dwayne Hastings & David Roach

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