Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a 49-year-old French Canadian woman, was a dedicated instructor of French at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Born in Montreal, Canada, she had a passion for her Francophone heritage and was known for her vibrant spirit and love of nature. Before moving to Blacksburg in 2001 with her husband, Jerzy Nowak, who was the head of the horticulture department at the university, she had been instrumental in establishing the first French-language school in Truro, Nova
Scotia. Her life was filled with family, friends, and her love for teaching.
On the morning of April 16, 2007, Couture-Nowak was teaching her Intermediate French class in Room 211 of Norris Hall. The peaceful academic setting was shattered by the sounds of gunfire. Realizing the danger, she and a student, Henry Lee, attempted to barricade the classroom door to protect her students. They pushed desks against the entrance as she urged her students to get down and call for help. However, the gunman, 23-year-old Virginia Tech senior Seung-Hui Cho, forced his way into the room. Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was one of the first to be shot in her classroom and died at the scene.
The perpetrator of the massacre, Seung-Hui Cho, was an undergraduate student at the university with a history of mental health problems. On that day, he carried out two separate attacks on the campus, using two semi-automatic pistols. The first took place at a dormitory, West Ambler Johnston Hall, before he moved on to Norris Hall, where Couture-Nowak and many others were killed. In total, Cho shot and killed 32 students and faculty members and wounded 17 others. As police stormed Norris Hall, Seung-Hui Cho ended the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the time by taking his own life. Because the sole suspect died by suicide, there were no arrests, trial, or convictions for the murder of Jocelyne Couture-Nowak and the other victims.
