The Family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho spoke out for the first time on Friday, saying in a statement that the members were “living a nightmare” feeling “hopeless, helpless and lost”, and were left heartbroken by the “terrible, senseless tragedy” Cho inflicted.

“I feel like I don’t know this person,” Cho’s older sister Sun-Kyung Cho said in the statement issued through a North Carolina attorney. “We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.”

His family, who have a home in Centreville, Virginia, are staying with friends and relatives, the FBI said Friday.

Sun-Kyung Cho said the family was “deeply sorry for the devastation my brother has caused.” In her statement, she said she and her parents “are humbled by this darkness...We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet, reserved, yet struggled to fit in.” She added: “He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare.”

Of the victims, Sun-Kyung Cho said: “Each...had so much love, talent and gifts to offer, and their lives were cut short by a horrible and senseless act.” She said she and her parents pray every day for “those who were injured and for those whose lives are changed forever because of what they witnessed and experienced.”