Waleed Shalaan came to the United States alone last August to continue his studies as a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech. The 32-year-old from Zagazig, Egypt, had no family in the U.S. but became an active member in the Blacksburg Muslim community. His Ph.D. studies began in Egypt, but he decided to abandon his initial tract there when Tech offered him an assistantship position in civil engineering.
In a written statement, Shalaan's roommate Fahad Pasha, a junior electrical engineering major from the United Arab Emirates, stated that he always made time for the people close to him in his community while balancing his time in his research, classes and TA responsibilities.
"Waleed was known for his broad smile and wave that he gave everyone," the statement read. "He was the simplest and nicest guy I ever knew."
Shalaan was shot and killed in Norris Hall in a civil and environmental engineering class with G.V. Loganathan a professor who also lost his life, and the person under whom Shalaan worked.
Pasha stated that he was the last to speak with Shalaan before he lost his life later that day.
"He was studying late for an exam the morning of the incident; it was about 4 a.m. when I last saw and spoke to him," he said in the written statement. "We were talking about how amazing it would be once he brought his wife and son to Tech after the summer."
Shalaan was married to his wife Amira for three years and the father of his one-year-old son Khaled, who both currently reside in Zagazig, Egypt. He also shared an apartment with Irfan Waseem, a graduate student from Pakistan.
"I could never have imagined that in five hours he'd be gone forever," Pasha said.
