Gentle souls, violent deaths

Caitlin M. Hammaren was an accomplished violinist. Reema J. Samaha studied French and planned to spend the summer abroad working in a children’s camp. Maxine S. Turner started a sorority of engineers to help women in a tough field make friends. Ryan C. Clark had two jobs and his eye on a Ph.D. Daniel P. O’Neil loved the Beatles.

These five and 27 others were gunned down Monday in a violent attack by a fellow student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Two were slain in a dormitory early in the morning; the rest died more than two hours later, when the gunman chained the doors of a classroom building and started shooting, then killed himself. More than two dozen were wounded.

The victims came from varied cultural backgrounds and economic circumstances. Some had arrived at Virginia Tech last fall; others were preparing for graduation after four years in the quiet town of Blacksburg, Va., tucked away amid the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Turner already had job offers. A 22-year-old senior studying chemical engineering, she had a deep bench of good friends and a variety of interests, from the Tae Kwan Do Club to German. It was in her German class that she died.

With its emphasis on science and mathematics, Virginia Tech is one of the few universities where men outnumber women. Turner never seemed daunted by the gender imbalance, but she was aware of the challenges.

She had recently formed a sorority, as she described on her MySpace.com page, for “females who had never had female friends ... for anyone looking for a support group, since engineering is challenging.”

“I don’t think she looked at being a woman in science as a handicap; she thought it was unique, uncommon and very special,” said Cady Hendershot, a 21-year-old biology junior who met Turner when they lived in the same residence hall.

Turner came from a middle-class family in Vienna, Va., a Washington suburb about five hours from campus. She had a job in high school as a sales associate at Trousseau’s, a lingerie shop, and would go back to visit after she left for college.

“She was willing to work her way up from the very bottom,” Hendershot said. “She was honest, very candid. She was one of the most amazing people you could know.”

That description -- amazing -- could have fit any of the students who died Monday.

Jarrett L. Lane, who was about to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, had been valedictorian and a four-sport athlete at his high school in Narrows, Va. Matthew J. La Porte, a freshman from Dumont, N.J., was attending Virginia Tech on an ROTC scholarship and aiming for a career as an officer in the Air Force.

Hammaren, a sophomore international studies and French major from Slate Hill, N.Y., was a standout singer and violinist who always performed with a smile on her face. O’Neil, a graduate student in civil engineering from Lincoln, R.I., worshipped the Beatles and wrote folk songs, which he posted on his MySpace.com page and his website.

On her MySpace.com page, Emily J. Hilscher, a diminutive freshman who was one of the first two students killed, called herself “The Pixie.” She was outgoing and outdoorsy in a way that fit right in on the rolling campus.

She was on the school equestrian team, was an avid snowboarder and was pursuing a degree in animal sciences. Her Internet postings were laced with profanity, and she had anxieties any teen might relate to. On her website, she talked of being unlucky in love but of meeting “a wonderful guy who is hopefully going to change all of that.”

Family members and friends described Hilscher, from Woodville, Va., as smart and sensitive.

“She has good friends, a perfect relationship with her boyfriend,” said her roommate, Heather Haugh. “I’m going to miss her so much. She loved to ride horses and she loved her family -- talked to her mom all the time, every day.”

Friends of many of the victims described struggling to come to grips with the contradictions that often accompany catastrophe -- premature deaths of those just starting their lives, and violence visited on people known for their gentle dispositions.

Hilscher “was the sweetest person ever, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her,” Haugh said.

Many of those killed grew up just hours from the Virginia Tech campus. But there were others who had come from overseas and endured long separations from their families.

Minal Panchal, a graduate student from India, often fretted about her decision to move so far from home to go to school. Her father had died last year, said friend Yogesh Gaikwad, and Panchal would lament that her “mother is alone in Bombay.”

Gaikwad said they were part of a close circle of friends, mostly Indian students, who held weekly dinners. Panchal was her usual bubbly self at last week’s gathering Friday night. “She’s like a big sister to me,” he said. “She’s so pretty. It’s hard to imagine she’s not with us anymore.”

They were an ambitious lot: Clark, a 22-year-old senior, had earned degrees in English and psychology and was about to get a third in biology, then go on to graduate school.

Hendershot knew him as well. “The first day of molecular biology lab, he just plopped down right next to me and introduced himself,” she said. “We were partners from then on.”

She and others described Clark as gregarious, a member of the marching band and an academic wizard with a 4.0 grade-point average. A resident advisor, he died along with Hilscher in the dormitory shooting.

The son of a teacher from Martinez, Ga., Clark came from modest means. In addition to the resident advisor job, he worked in a store on campus. “He worked so hard,” Hendershot said. “He said his parents didn’t make much money.... He was a fantastic student.”

Clark was putting together a margarita night with several friends at a taco restaurant in town. But Hendershot wasn’t yet 21. “We have to wait for Cady!” he announced to her delight. It was set for next week.

Samaha, 18, a freshman from Centreville, Va., also was a gifted student.

“She was a young lady that was growing in every way,” her father, Joseph Samaha, told CNN. “She was a great student -- on the dean’s list first semester.”

As it happened, Samaha and the shooter, Seung-hui Cho, attended the same Virginia high school, though they were three years apart. There was no indication she was a specific target.

An accomplished dancer in many genres, from ballet to belly, she had performed in an international festival last weekend, her father said. She spoke French and was planning to spend part of her summer in France with her sister working at a children’s camp, said Lu Ann McNabb, a family friend and neighbor who described Samaha as “a delightful girl, full of joy.”

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faye.fiore@latimes.com

greg.miller@times.com

Fiore and Miller reported from Washington. Times staff writers Erika Hayasaki and Adam Schreck in Blacksburg and Lianne Hart in Houston contributed to this report.

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The victims

Among those killed Monday in the shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., as identified by authorities, family members and local news reports:

Faculty

Christopher James Bishop, instructor, foreign languages; taught German

Jocelyne M. Couture-Nowak, instructor, foreign languages

Kevin P. Granata, 35, professor, engineering, science and mechanics department

Liviu Librescu, 76, Israeli lecturer taught at Virginia Tech for 20 years; internationally known for his work in aeronautical engineering

G.V. Loganathan, 51, professor, civil and environmental engineering

Students

Ross A. Alameddine, 20, Saugus, Mass.; university studies

Brian R. Bluhm, graduate student, civil engineering

Ryan C. Clark, senior, Martinez, Ga.; biology, English and psychology; resident advisor

Austin M. Cloyd, 22, Champaign, Ill., and Blacksburg; international studies

Caitlin M. Hammaren, 19, Slate Hill, N.Y.; sophomore, international studies and French

Jeremy M. Herbstritt, 27, Bellefonte, Pa.

Rachel M. Hill, 18, Henrico County, Va.; interdisciplinary studies.

Emily J. Hilscher, 18, freshman, animal and poultry sciences

Jarrett L. Lane, 28, senior, Narrows, Va.; civil engineering

Matthew J. La Porte, 21, freshman, Dumont, N.J.; university studies

Lauren McCain, 20, Hampton, Va.; international studies

Daniel P. O’Neil, 22, Lincoln, R.I.; graduate student in civil engineering

Juan R. Ortiz, 26, Bayamon, Puerto Rico; graduate student in engineering.

Minal Panchal, Bombay, India; graduate student in architecture

Erin N. Peterson, 18, freshman, Centerville, Va.

Daniel A. Perez Cueva, 21, a native of Peru, international relations

Julia K. Pryde, Middletown, N.J.; graduate student in biological engineering

Mary Karen Read, 19, Annandale Va.; interdisciplinary studies

Reema J. Samaha, 18, freshman, Centreville, Va.; university studies

Leslie G. Sherman, sophomore, Fairfax, Va.; history and international studies

Maxine Turner, 22, senior, Vienna, Va.; chemical engineering

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Source: Times research, wire reports, local newspapers