Juan Ramon Ortiz was a 26-year-old graduate student from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, studying for a master’s degree in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech. He and his wife had moved to Blacksburg after marrying in August 2006. Ortiz was in an Advanced Hydrology class on April 16, 2007, when he was killed during a mass shooting on campus.

Ortiz was remembered by his family as an extraordinary son and was active outside school as a musician, playing the timbales in a salsa band with his father. The attacker, a 23-year-old student, used two pistols and carried out two separate attacks that day before killing himself; there were no suspects to be arrested after the rampage.

Did anyone who knew Juan in Blacksburg or from Bayamón have memories or details about his life to share?