Knowing who someone is and knowing significant details about them are two completely different things. The guy had no friends, he didn't communicate to his peers... they had no idea what he was into. Whether it was the Bible, the Koran, Dungeons and Dragons or show tunes. The only constant among the people who knew they guy is that not a one of them knew the first thing about him.
I happen to know that there is nothing in the Bible or in the Koran that links Ishmael/Ismail with "AX".
Except that in the Koran, Ibrahim, father of the bastard Ismail (fleas be upon him), went to the temple armed with an axe to destroy the false idols. I have no idea if that's what Cho was referencing or not, but to say you KNOW there was no link in the killer's mind is patently absurd.
So is it AX or Axe? He was an English major, after all.
Once Sarah had a child, Ishmael got demoted.
People from his high school class knew that he was weird. No, they didn't know what his favorite food was, but they "knew" him.
You're really stretching...................LOL
also, keep in mind that schizophrenics tend to make paranoid associations and link things together that are not reasonable and don’t make alot of sense to other people. They are delusional. Even if we figured out what he was referring to, it still may not have any validity.