Tech Marking 5 Years Since Campus Massacre Each anniversary since the April 2007, massacre on the Virginia Tech campus, classes have been suspended for the day in memory of the 32 students and faculty killed in the rampage by a lone gunman who then killed himself. On Monday, the fifth anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the 28,000 students on campus will head to class to honor the 32. Provost Mark McNamee, who chaired a committee that planned memorial events in the years after the shooting, says the return to classes reflects the lives of those slain. The day will be remembered in other ways on the Blacksburg campus, in Washington and by alumni across the country. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has issued a proclamation recognizing April 16 as Virginia Tech Remembrance Day.