Kevin Patrick Granata, a 45-year-old male professor, found himself in a terrifying situation on the morning of April 16, 2007. He was in his office on the third floor of Norris Hall at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, when the sound of gunshots echoed from the floor below. A professor from a nearby classroom alerted him to the unfolding danger, and without hesitation, Granata ushered that professor and about 20 students into the safety of his office, where the door could be locked.
With the students secured, he and another professor, Wally Grant, made the fateful decision to go downstairs and investigate the commotion. There, they were confronted by the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old student at the university. Cho shot both professors. While Grant was wounded but survived, Granata was fatally struck by a gunshot to the temple. His actions, and those of his colleague, were a final act of bravery in an effort to protect the students in their care. None of the students Granata had sheltered in his office were physically harmed.
The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, had begun his rampage earlier that day in a dormitory before moving on to Norris Hall. Armed with two pistols, he killed 32 students and faculty members and wounded many others in what was, at the time, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. After his assault on Norris Hall, as police breached the building, Cho took his own life. An investigation following the tragedy revealed that Cho had a history of mental health problems. In the wake of the devastating event, Kevin Granata was remembered by colleagues as one of the top biomechanics researchers in the country and a dedicated family man.
