Candle light vigil held at Virginia Tech for Las Vegas massacre victims

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ7) A vigil was held Tuesday night for Las Vegas in a place far too familiar with mass casualty shootings, Virginia Tech.

The vigil was a little smaller than some expected, with only around two dozen students attending, but that didn't take away from the power of the situation.

The students were all standing with candles lit as the names of the Las Vegas victim were read.

Those at the vigil all said it was important to them to show solidarity with Las Vegas.

Mckenzi Macdowall, a Virginia Tech Senior, said, "I've had a very heavy heart for the past day and a half since I found out, and I didn't want it to just go unrecognized. I don't want these events to be normalized."

Freshman Annie Colclough added, "We're so far from where everything happened and we can't really do anything to help, so we wanted to do as much as we can, so we felt like coming here."

The time was even opened, during the vigil, for public comment. Only one young man stepped forward, but his message was strong.

He said, "I think it's really important that we don't give these monsters that commit such atrocities a podium of fear and hatred to speak on, because that's what they're going for with these acts."

The tragedies of Virginia Tech from ten years ago were also brought up. The students believed, with the experience Virginia Tech has, Las Vegas could use them.

Freshman Elizabeth Kennedy said, "I think everyone at the school, yesterday and today both, felt a lot of sympathy and a sadness from the events that happened, but I think it just brought us closer together."

Macdowall added, "As horrible as the event that happened here was, it has made this campus so much stronger. My deepest hope is that the event in Las Vegas will do that for our country."

But the organizer of the vigil, Tobias Sweeney, said this would have happened even if the tragedy of April 16 had never happened.

"There's a sense of togetherness and the concept that we're all Hokies and we should all be together," he said.

The one thing not heard Tuesday night was anything political. Sweeney said he had hoped to keep the vigil apolitical, and just focus on the lives lost.

The students also signed a banner with messages of love and support, which will be mailed Wednesday morning to the Las Vegas Trauma Center.