20 Families, Victims Preserve Right to Sue City, State, Police

Oct 13, 07:20 AM

Current Headlines: By MATTHEW BOWERS

By Matthew Bowers

The Virginian-Pilot

The first legal step toward possible lawsuits over the Virginia Tech shootings came Friday when the town of Blacksburg and the state attorney general's office received notices on behalf of 20 victims, families or both, preserving their rights to sue.

Each "notice of claim" received by the town attorney of Blacksburg - the location of Virginia Tech - blames town police for their handling of the initial killings of two students in a dormitory.

Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot those students and 30 more people on campus before killing himself on April 16. He also injured another 25.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office said late Friday he was aware of one such notice received in his Richmond office. The attorney general would represent Virginia Tech officials if they were sued.

Claim notices are required within one year for complaints against state employees, within six months for complaints against localities.

Peter Grenier, a Washington lawyer, sent the notices on behalf of the victims and families - 12 who died and eight who were wounded. He didn't return a phone message Friday.

After the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, Grenier won a $1.5 million settlement for the family of a math teacher who was killed .

The notices received Friday in Blacksburg alleged that the town, its police department , individual police officers and other government employees were liable; and that claims against them could include negligence, reckless misconduct and civil rights violations, such as deprivation of the right to life or personal security.

Each three-page letter refers to the "Virginia Tech Massacre," recounts a time line of Cho's actions on April 16, and lays out the victims' complaints against Blacksburg police, including:

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Looking only for the boyfriend of the first victim, even though police were told the couple had "an excellent relationship."

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Erroneously concluding and telling university officials that their lone suspect probably had left campus, with no backup plan to protect students in case they were wrong.

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Conveying to university officials the impression that there was no immediate risk to students' safety, and no need for an "immediate, accurate warning." A university e-mail warning two hours later referred to a "shooting incident" in the dormitory but didn't mention the deaths or a killer on the loose.

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Not warning students and faculty about the first two killings and the unidentified killer.

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Failing to conduct "a reasonably thorough and professionally appropriate investigation" of the first two shootings.

The letters also say that Blacksburg's public schools instituted a "lock down" after hearing of the first dorm shootings, while the campus itself remained open.

"I don't know if or when the attorney may actually file suit," Lawrence Spencer Jr., Blacksburg town attorney, said in an e-mail. "Filing this notice keeps the attorney's options open; failing to file it forecloses suit."

On Sept. 20, Grenier's firm notified Kimberley Crannis, Blacksburg's police chief, that litigation was being considered against the state, Blacksburg and its police. The letter demanded that police safeguard and preserve all documents and electronically stored information concerning the shootings.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has said he hopes to avoid lawsuits by making settlements that would assuage victims and victims' families.

Phone messages left with several of the families weren't returned late Friday.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com

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