Waleed Mohammed Shaalan

Thousands of Virginia Tech students and faculty filled the center of campus Monday to pay solemn tribute to the victims of last week's massacre -- pausing for two moments of silence for the 32 people slain by a student gunman.


Waleed Mohammed Shaalan
Doctoral student, 32


A doctoral student in civil engineering, Shaalan was from Zagazig, Egypt. He left behind his wife and 1-year-old to come to the U.S. to study civil engineering, following in his father's footsteps, the New York Times reported.
Randy Dymond, a civil engineering professor at Virginia Tech, told the Times that Shaalan had saved the life of a fellow graduate student during the shooting; Cho noticed the student, who was playing dead beside a badly wounded Shaalan, but before Cho could shoot the student, Shaalan distracted him and was shot a second time.

Sky News:

A survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre has been describing how a colleague died to protect others.
Although badly injured, graduate student Waleed Shalaan distracted gunman Cho Seung-Hui to save another person from his bullets.


The surviving student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told of Waleed's heroics through an email to his supervisor.
He describes how he was left uninjured after Cho's initial round of shots.
Meanwhile, Waleed had been wounded but was still alive.
However, when Cho later returned to the classroom to inspect for signs of life among his victims, the surviving student struggled to remain calm.
He believes he would have been shot dead were it not for Waleed's "protective movement" that distracted the gunman.

Cho turned and shot Waleed for a second time, killing him, before leaving the classroom.
Randy Dymond, a civil engineering professor, has said the student asked to him to tell the tale "so that the family of Waleed understands the sacrifice."
Shaalan's mother broke down when she heard Mr Dymond's account.
"He was trying to save someone else," she said repeatedly.
Dymond said Shaalan's body was taken to a Blacksburg mosque so classmates, teachers and friends could say goodbye before he was sent to Egypt for burial.

I hardly hold my tears when I'm imagining this. I'm sure you are among Shudaa'... And I'm sure god will support and help your family, and your son is going to grow up, knowing that his father died protecting others...

This reminds me of all those who died protecting others, not just nowadays... But nothing will stop, life will keep going on and on.... we might remember them tomorrow, but who knows what will happen next! May this simple post be in memorial of those who died and still die every day, everywhere, not just in VA tech, but also in Palestine, Sheshan, Darfur, and many other places...

Let's ask god for mercy!

Please consider making a donation to Waleed's family.
Go to:
http://www.msanational.org/finance/vt07donate.html