BLACKSBURG, VA – APRIL 15: A memorial of 32 granite blocks representing each of the people killed by Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech is seen April 15, 2008 in Blacksburg, Virginia. The man said he knew two of the students and one of the teachers killed in the massacre. The one-year anniversary of the worst school shooting in US history is tomorrow. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Virginia Tech observed the anniversary of the shootings which killed 32 students and faculty were held on a campus rendered almost silent and empty by the coronavirus pandemic.
School president Tim Sands and his wife, Laura, placed wreaths on opposite sides of the memorial to the shooting on Thursday, The Roanoke Times reported. After the Sandses laid wreaths, the Burruss Hall carillon sounded 32 times.
The wreath laying on the Day of Remembrance was held at an undisclosed time to prevent crowds from gathering, and instead of a midnight candle lighting and extinguishing ceremonies, there was a solitary candle displayed at the memorial.
In addition, the 3.2-mile Run of Remembrance, which usually attracts up to 15,000 people to Blacksburg, was virtual.
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On April 16, 2007, an undergraduate student at Virginia Tech shot 49 people on campus, killing 32 and wounding 17. The gunman, a senior at the school, killed himself after his rampage.
