Apr 17, 2007 11:35 pm US/Eastern
Saugus Student Among Those Killed At Virginia Tech
SAUGUS (WBZ) ―
A student from Massachusetts was among the 33 people killed in the shooting rampage at
Virginia Tech Monday.
Twenty-year-old sophomore Ross Alameddine of Saugus was shot during a French class in Norris Hall. Alameddine graduated from Austin Prep in Reading in 2005.
A few feet from the door of his Saugus home, a police cruiser was parked around midday to keep the media away and help the family deal with their grief in private.
"I'm just trying to get through the day here," said Alameddine's mother, Lynnette, said earlier Tuesday.
Stunned friends and former teachers remembered Alameddine not only for his smarts in a range of subjects, from math to foreign languages, but also for his dry wit and ironic sense of humor.
"We're very sad that he's gone," said David Boschetto, a math teacher at Austin Prep, the private school in Reading where Alameddine's sister also attended. "It was very, very shocking to me and the rest of his teachers ... He was just a wonderful kid."
Lynnette Alameddine didn't find out her son was one of the victims until more than 12 hours later, which she called "outrageous."
"It happened in the morning and I did not hear (about her son's death) until a quarter to 11 at night," she said. "That was outrageous. Two kids died, and then they shoot a whole bunch of them, including my son."
She told WBZ Radio a chaplain from the school called her to tell her her son had been killed.
Friends have been posting tributes to him on his
facebook and
myspace accounts.
They say he was funny and intelligent. Some praised him for teaching himself how to play the piano.
"You're such an amazing kid, Ross," wrote Zach Allen, who also attended Austin, according to his profile. "You always made me smile, and you always knew the right thing to do or say to cheer anyone up."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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