BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A sea of people wearing orange and maroon flowed onto the main lawn at Virginia Tech on Wednesday, some clutching single roses, to remember the victims of worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
They gathered on the same field where a white candle lit at midnight began a day of mourning for the 32 people killed a year ago by a student gunman who killed himself as police closed in.
“We remain deeply and profoundly saddened by the events of that tragic day…,” Virginia Tech President Charles Steger told the crowd. “Indeed, all our lives were changed on that day.”
While this close-knit campus of 27,000 has worked hard to move on, the anniversary of the killings has left many struggling to cope. Some weren’t sure how best to honor the dead.