Virginia Tech Shooting

Members of the Virginia Tech community embrace each other on the drillfield on Wednesday, April 16, 2008, during a memorial ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of the April 16, 2007, campus shootings.

 

 

“I told her she’s going to be ok,” said Lt. Tea Poulin, of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, of how she came to the drillfield at the Virginia Tech campus Thursday morning to show her support and saw a young woman sitting by herself. Here, Lt. Poulin consoles the young woman, Laurel Marburg (center), a research assistant at Virginia Tech, as Elina Terushkin (left), a student at the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Blacksburg, sits nearby. Lt. Poulin has been in Blacksburg since Monday, April 16, 2007, the day of the Virginia Tech campus shootings, to offer peer support for the local officers.

 

 

“We’re a family, you know, even if you didn’t directly know some of the people we’re talking about, we lost 33 family members,” said Virginia Tech grad student Ashley Renfrow, of Chesapeake, Va. Here, Renfrow breaks down during a spontaneous prayer gathering at the drillfield, on the Virginia Tech campus, on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. The gathering was done in reaction to the April 16 shootings, which killed 33 people.

 

 

“We need a lot more people down here passing out hugs in a moment like this,” said officer M.G. Mickey, of Blacksburg, referring to Kiera Cass, a Hokie by marriage through her husband, and her offer to listen. Here, officer Mickey stops to chat and get his hug in downtown Blacksburg the week of the April 16, 2007, campus shootings.

 

 

“It’s just hard to actually comprehend the fact that there are people that I knew, that I was friends with, that I lost”, said Virginia Tech junior Justin Leddon, from Springfield, Va., referring to the deadly campus shooting of the previous day. Here, Leddon takes a moment to himself in Lane stadium, on the Virginia Tech campus, on Tuesday, April 17, 2007, after the 2pm convocation in which president George Bush spoke on campus.

 

 

Many stand while the names of the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech shootings are read during a memorial ceremony on the Virginia Tech drillfield marking the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.

 

 

Dentis Shaw, of Charlotte, N.C., leads a spontaneous prayer group at the drillfield, on the Virginia Tech campus, on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. Many gathered in similar groups at the drillfield in reaction to the April 16 shooting. Shaw said he was dealing with his wife’s recent death from breast cancer when the shootings took place. He immediately drove to Blacksburg to be with the students during this difficult time. “With what I’m going through, I’m hurting, but they’re hurting too,” he said.

 

 

Virginia Tech senior Julie Silberberg (left), of Maryland, and junior Whitney Hayes, of Giles County, Va., give each other a hug while giving out free hugs on the drillfield on Tuesday, April 15, 2008, one day before the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. Hayes started giving hugs out at 9a.m. and was still going strong at 2p.m.

 

 

Cadets line up in front of the memorial on the drillfield, on the Virginia Tech campus, before the vigil that took place Tuesday, April 17, 2007, for those killed and injured in the previous day’s campus shootings.

 

 

Grieving members of the Virginia Tech community stand in front of a memorial wreath after a vigil on the drillfield, on the Virginia Tech campus. The vigil was held in honor of those killed in the previous day’s campus shooting.

 

 

Virginia Tech freshman Jessica Hawkins, of Churchville, Va., and sophomore Chase Appich, of Midlothian, Va., grieve during a vigil on the drillfield, on the Virginia Tech campus, on Tuesday, April 17, 2007.

 

 

Members of the Virginia Tech community participate in a candlelight vigil on the drillfield on April 16, 2008, to mark the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.

 

 

Grieving members of the Virginia Tech community stand in front of a memorial wreath after a vigil on the drillfield, on the Virginia Tech campus, on Tuesday, April 17, 2007.

 

 

(From left) Virginia Tech grad student Liz Langer, of the Washington D.C. area, her nephew Gabriel Langer-Osuna, 2, and Virginia Tech senior Mike Stashuick, of Chicago, visit the memorial set up on the drillfield on the Virginia Tech campus three days after the shootings.

 

 

Members of the Virginia Tech community continue to grieve in Blacksburg on Friday, April 20, 2007. Visitors to the memorial at the drillfield on campus placed flowers and lit candles in honor of those killed.

 

 

The crowd stands for the national anthem before watching the Virginia Tech baseball team play Friday, April 20, 2007. This was the first sporting event at Virginia Tech after the  shootings.

 

 

At “Remembering Through Art Creation,” in Squires Student Center, on the Virginia Tech campus, students painted hokie stones as a way of moving forward and healing without forgetting.

 

 

Virginia Tech grad student Trevor McNamara, of Burke, Va., visits the drillfield memorials on the Virginia Tech campus before heading to his graduation ceremony on Friday, May 11, 2007.

 

 

 

Photos by Eva Russo

All photos @ Richmond Times-Dispatch