Offering Heartfelt Condolences to the Victims and Their Families Regarding the Horrific Violence at Virginia Tech and to Students, Facutly, Administration and Staff and Their Families Who Have Been Affected

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I join all 434 of my colleagues in rising to express our sorrow, our regret, our sympathy, yes, and in some respects our outrage that this calamity has been visited on so many of our promising and wonderful young people.

Mr. Speaker, as a grieving Nation tries to comprehend the senseless, horrific violence on the campus of Virginia Tech University on Monday, the full scope of this tragedy is only now beginning to come to light. Thirty-two innocent people, 32 young people of promise, some people not so young who were at great risk and survived, 32 people were stolen from their families and friends at the hand of a deeply disturbed young man who ended the carnage by taking his own life. More than two dozen others were injured during this random, murderous rampage.

Today, a profoundly saddened Nation recognizes that these were not mere strangers, although we may not have known the victims personally. They were members of our national family and in so many ways they were a reflection of us. They were hope for the future. They were brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers who were so full of life, hope and promise for a better future, for themselves, their families, their country and indeed the world.

Those slain included a 20-year-old political science major from Dumont, New Jersey, who attended Virginia Tech on an Air Force scholarship; an 18-year-old freshman from Centreville, Virginia who distinguished herself in drama and on Virginia Tech's dance team; a 22-year-old senior from Martinez, Georgia who was majoring in psychology, biology and English and who served as a role model for many; a 76-year-old engineering professor and Holocaust survivor who survived one of the worst terrorists and despots the world has ever seen, Adolf Hitler, to come home and to teach young people, to make them better able to meet the future and to have that ability robbed from him by a senseless act. And so many others, Mr. Speaker.

We may never know the answer to the question ``Why?'' Why have so many loving, promising people been taken through such senseless violence? However, let us mourn their loss and extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to their families and to their friends and to their fellow students.

Today, our thoughts and prayers are also with those who have been injured as well as Virginia Tech's students, faculty and staff, alumni and the entire campus community as they endeavor to cope with this monumental tragedy. Let us remind them they are not alone. Not only are they in our hearts but they will be in our prayers. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for giving me this time to join him and the Virginia delegation in recognizing the tragedy and reflecting our remembrance of those who have been hurt, those who have lost their lives, and those whom they left behind.

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