Tragedy at Virginia Tech

On April 16, on the usually quiet campus of Virginia Tech, student turned gunman Cho Seung-Hui opened fire in a dormitory, followed by a shooting spree in the classrooms of Norris Hall, killing a total of 32 students and professors before taking his own life. As the death toll rose, it became the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. In the hours and days following the tragedy, there was an outpouring of grief and great mourning among the Virginia Tech community as they gathered to comfort one another and pay tribute to those killed.

Family members, students, professors, and hundreds of other members of the Virginia Tech community gather near a memorial on the drill field for a candlelight vigil in honor of the lives lost in the massacre.
   
Students pay their respects and leave notes at a makeshift shrine near the campus chapel as night falls after the Virginia Tech massacre on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia.
   
As night falls, cadets gather to comfort one another and their fellow classmates outside of the campus chapel.
     
  
A student cries at the memorial set up near Norris Hall in remembrance of the 32 students and professors who were murdered.
   
Police stand guard near Norris Hall, the building where Seung-Hui Cho opened fire and killed 30 students and professors before taking his own life.
   
Students hold hands and gather on the football field of Lane Stadium during an overflow of the memorial service held inside the VT colesium.
     
  
As students find solace and quiet in the college chapel, cadets guard the wreath placed in memorial of the students and professors killed in the shootings the day before.
  
Friends of Maxine Turner hold pictures taken with her just days before she was killed in the campus shootings.
  
Three students comfort one another as they close their eyes in prayer during a multi-faith prayer service for the victims.
     
  
A student pauses before leaving a note of remembrance on one of the wooden boards set up on the drill field across from Norris Hall. The community used these boards as a way to leave notes and pay their respect to those who lost their lives on April 16th.
   
Three members of the community bow their heads as they kneel in front of the memorial created on the drillfield in front of Norris Hall. This shrine became the center point of gathering during the time of grieving.
   
A man gazes at the hearse carrying the remains of a student killed in the shootings after her funeral service.