Maxine 'Max' Shelly Turner, a 22-year-old female chemical engineering student, was nearing the end of her academic journey at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A senior from Vienna, Virginia, she had already completed her required courses and was looking forward to her graduation in May 2007. With a promising career ahead of her, she had accepted a position with W.L. Gore & Associates, the makers of Gore-Tex, in Elkton, Maryland.
On April 16, 2007, Turner was in her German class, a course she was taking as an elective. That morning, her life was tragically cut short during a shooting rampage on the Blacksburg campus. She was among the 32 students and faculty members who lost their lives in the massacre. Along with Turner, her German instructor, Jamie Bishop, and three other students in the same classroom were fatally wounded.
The person responsible for the horrific events of that day was identified as Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old student at the university. Armed with two handguns, Cho carried out the attacks in two separate locations on campus before taking his own life. The investigation confirmed that Cho acted alone, and his motives have been the subject of much analysis and discussion since the incident. In the aftermath, there were no further arrests to be made as the sole perpetrator had died by suicide at the scene of the crime.
