Charlotte alumni hold vigil on 10th anniversary of Va. Tech shooting

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Ten years after a mentally ill student fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech, survivors and families of the slain returned to campus to honor the lives that were lost that day.

Virginia Tech held a series of events Sunday to mark the anniversary of the deadly campus shooting on April 16, 2007. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine was among the 10,000-20,000 people at the Blacksburg campus for the solemn occasion.

Kaine, who was governor at the time of the shooting, said he still vividly remembers the horrors of that day, but has also grown close to many of the survivors and the victims' families.

"We're going with a lot of different emotions, but we wouldn't be anywhere else," said Kaine, who attended the service with his wife, Anne Holton.

The Virginia Tech alumni chapter in Charlotte remembered those killed in the tragedy with an emotional candlelight vigil.

At Marshall park, dozens of Virginia Tech alumni gathered to remember the lives lost on the university's campus.

“It seems as if it was yesterday,” said Lisa Thaxton, a Virginia Tech alumnus who organized the vigil.

Thaxton’s daughter was a student at Virginia Tech at the time of the shooting.

“When we were finally able to make contact with her,” Thaxton said. “We were relieved, but we also felt a sense of grief and just heartache and pain for those who we knew would not have that same news."

Thirty-two other families weren't as fortunate.

Each victim's name was read aloud, followed by a bell chime.

The shooting at Virginia Tech was, at the time, the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history. A massacre that claimed 49 lives at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub surpassed it last year. It forced schools across the country to rethink campus security and reignited the debate over gun control that rages to this day.

Sunday's events included a wreath-laying ceremony around 9:43 a.m., the time when Seung-Hui Cho's rampage in Norris Hall began. It was followed by a commemoration event featuring remarks from Kaine and a reading of the names and biographies of the 32 slain students and faculty members.

Later, students, faculty and visitors will gathered for a candlelight vigil. At 11:59 p.m., a candle at the April 16 memorial that was lit at midnight was extinguished and carried into Burruss Hall. The events were planned by current students over the last 18 months, said Mark Owczarski, a Virginia Tech spokesman.

Leading up the anniversary, the atmosphere on campus has been one of reflection and remembrance, Owczarski said. Most of the current students were in elementary school when the shooting occurred, but understand that the "tragedy is part of Virginia Tech," he said. Counselors have been stationed at commemoration events throughout the weekend to provide support.

"It is together, as a community, that we endure difficult times," Tech President Tim Sands said in a recent email to students and staff.

Associated Press