A day of events at Virginia Tech on Tuesday will honor the memory of the 32 people killed in a mass shooting at the school on April 16, 2007.
The memorial events began at midnight Tuesday with the lighting of a ceremonial candle at the university's April 16 Memorial, a semi-circle of 32 Hokie Stones, each engraved with a victim's name. The school said the candle would remain lit for 24 hours.
At 9:43 a.m., a statewide moment of silence will honor the victims, who include 18-year-old freshman Erin Peterson; sophomore engingeering student Matthew La Porte; graduate student Juan Ramón Ortiz-Ortiz; and 76-year-old engineering professor Liviu Librescu, who held the door to his classroom closed, preventing the gunman from entering.
A display of pastel portraits of the 32 victims will be on display from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the G. Burke Johnston Student Center Hallway.
Virginia Tech also identified a list of places on campus for quiet reflection (scroll to document here).
At 11:59 p.m., the ceremonial candle will be extinguished, but the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets will stand guard for 32 minutes beforehand. "The candle will be extinguished and the light will be carried back into Burruss Hall, representing the commitment to never forget," the school said.
See more memorial events here.
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