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The family of the Virginia Tech gunman said Friday they never imagined he would be capable of so much violence, expressing sincere apology for his actions.

They sent a statement, apologizing for Cho Seung-hui's shooting spree claiming 32 lives as well as his own, to the Associated Press, breaking silence five days after the worst capmus tragedy in the United States took place on Monday.

"Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for us all," said the statement from Cho's elder sister Sun-Kyung. A Princeton graduate, she works for the State Department.

"We pray for their families and loved ones who are experiencing so much excruciating grief," she wrote. "We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, helpless and lost."she added,

The family corrected the name of the killer, who had been identified all week as Cho Seung-hui. The true version is Seung-Hui Cho, they said.

The family was also confronting the true version of Cho, who stalked women, wrote ultraviolent plays and was once sent to a mental hospital as a possible danger to himself.

"This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person," Cho's sister said. "My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.

"He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare."

Cho's sister made it clear her family will cooperate fully and "do whatever we can to help authorities understand why these senseless acts happened. We have many unanswered questions as well."

"I actually feel sympathy towards their family," said Virginia Tech freshman Andrea Hacker, 19. "A lot of people are probably looking down on them now, but they have no reason to.

"It's got to be tragic for them as well. They're going through just as much grief as we are, plus the added pressure of having a brother do this."

The family's statement was issued during a statewide day of mourning for the victims. Silence fell across the Virginia Tech campus at noon and bells tolled in churches nationwide in memory of the victims.

Mourners in the school's colors of maroon and orange gathered for a moment of silence around a flower-strewn memorial, watching as 32 balloons rose into the brilliant sky, each accompanied by the sound of a tolling bell.

The moment stretched into 10 silent minutes before Virginia Tech President Charles Steger laid a rose at the foot of the memorial.

The first of the memorials and funerals were more subdued, however."Once they start, things will start sinking in ... then the healing can begin," said Jennifer Boehm, 22, while standing at a memorial for Matt LaPorte of Dumont, N.J. "It still seems unreal."

A few blocks from campus, 700 mourners filled the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church to remember Kevin Granata, 46, an engineering professor who was nationally known for his research into cerebral palsy.

"We should think about the hope that Prof. Granata's life provided," said his department head, Ishwar Puri. "This is a great man. What a wonderful world we live in because of great people like him."

Meanwhile, Seven people hurt in the rampage remained hospitalized, at least one in serious condition.