Nasa killer 'bought gun after unfavourable job review'

A space engineer who killed a co-worker and himself at the Houston headquarters of America's space agency bought the gun the same day that he printed out a poor job report that he blamed on his victim, according to police.

NASA quality-control engineer David Beverly was shot twice by contract worker Bill Phillips. He was shot again repeatedly as he was trying to barricade an office to keep Phillips from returning. The gunman bound a woman Nasa worker, Fran Crenshaw, to a chair with duct tape, holding her hostage for several hours. Police freed her after hearing the gunshot that killed Phillips. Mr Beverly's widow, Linda, said he had been working for Nasa for 40 years as an electrical parts specialist. "His intellect and his knowledge ... David really felt he was a contributor."

The murder and suicide occurred despite tighter security at the sprawling Johnson Space Centre in the wake of the massacre last week at Virginia Tech. Thousands of NASA workers were evacuated.

In Virginia, police are still trying to find if there were any connections between the killer, Cho Seung-Hui, and his 32 victims. Relatives and friends have attended memorial services in tiny Blacksburg for the first two victims of the rampage.