Two nursing students were killed February 8 when a fellow student shot them in a classroom before killing herself. Tanieshia Killough Butler, 26, and Karsheika Graves, 21, were in the practical nursing program at Louisiana Technical College's Baton Rouge campus. The motive of the shooter, Latina Williams, 23, also a nursing student, was unknown, but Baton Rouge police said in a statement that she had exhibited signs of "paranoia and losing touch with reality." Butler is survived by her husband and three children; Graves leaves behind a fiance and two children.

Beverly Pacas, RN, head of the practical nursing program, enjoyed having Butler in her classroom. Butler loved writing poetry, Pacas said, which she shared with classmates. Graves worked as a dialysis technician at Fresenius Medical Care in Prairieville, Louisiana. An employee there, Katherine Oubre, RN, said that Graves was "always smiling and constantly working" and "never missed a day of work." Oubre admired Graves for pursuing nursing; she said that Graves's main goal was to give her children a better life. "Even on her free time, she would always have a book in her hand," Oubre said.

The college has set up a memorial fund to benefit the victims' families; information is available at http://www.lctcs.edu/ltcRemembers.

Figure. Tanieshia Killough Butler, age 26, was killed February 8 in a classroom in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Pictured with her are two of her three children: Mya, now age 9, and Destin, now age 4.

Jennifer Moser