Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva, a 21-year-old male of Peruvian descent, was a junior at Virginia Tech majoring in international studies. He had moved to the United States from Peru with his family and was known for his kind and friendly nature. Friends and family remember him as a wonderful and amazing person who was a great friend, brother, and son.
On April 16, 2007, Daniel was in his French class in Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, when he was tragically
killed. He was one of 32 victims in a mass shooting that unfolded that day. Daniel, along with his professor and ten other students, lost their lives in that classroom. The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old student at the university, carried out the attack before taking his own life.
The incident, which became the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history at the time, prompted a massive law enforcement response and plunged the university and the nation into mourning. The shooter, armed with two pistols, began his rampage earlier that morning in a different location on campus before moving to Norris Hall. Following the massacre, the university closed, and a period of grieving and remembrance began for the victims, including Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva. The perpetrator's actions were that of a lone individual, and he died by suicide at the scene, concluding the immediate search for a suspect.
