Five-Year Anniversary of Virginia Tech Massacre

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Today, April 16, marks the five year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre. On April16, 2007, a mentally ill student shot 32 people at the school. This year the school is holding classes on the day of the shooting for the first time. Officials with the school said that by holding classes on the anniversary of the shooting is just another way to honor the students and the faculty who lost their lives that day.

Jessie McNamara, a freshman, was not at the school when the shooting happened, but she remembers it vividly as two girls from her high school were victims of the rampage.

  

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“It was really hard, but we got through it,” she said.

McNamara said she feels safe at the school even though she passes the April 16 memorial on the campus often.

“I feel 100 percent safe,” she said. McNamara said that anniversary vigils help to reinforce the support system offered by the community for students and staff members. At midnight this morning, Virginia Tech also marked the date by lighting a memorial candle that will burn for 24 hours. For 32 minutes, members of the university’s Corps of Cadets stood guard at the candle. They will do so again tonight before it is extinguished. On Monday at the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, governor Bob McDonnell will speak at a candlelight vigil.