RICHMOND, Va. — Some Virginia Tech officials warned their own families and the president’s office was locked down well before a campuswide alert was issued in the 2007 slayings of 32 people, according to a revised state report that details new fumbles in the response to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
One student survived several hours after being shot without anyone notifying her family until she had died, said the updated report, released Friday.
At least two officials with a crisis-response team called their family members after the first shootings at a dorm and about 90 minutes before the all-campus alert was issued at 9:26 a.m. The president’s office was locked down at 8:52 a.m., and two academic buildings also were shut down before the general alert.
The revisions, made partly in response to requests from victims’ families, also added details about troubling behavior by Seung-Hui Cho and includes information from his mental-health records. Cho killed 32 people and injured several others before killing himself April 16, 2007.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said the findings that some school officials called their own family members about the initial shootings in a dorm before an all-campus warning was issued were “inexcusable.”
“There is almost never a reason not to provide immediate notification,” Kaine told The Associated Press on Friday. “If university officials thought it was important enough to notify their own families, they should have let everyone know.”
The revised report is likely to bring new scrutiny for university president Charles Steger, who has resisted calls from family members of some victims to resign over the response to the massacre.
While new details were added and other portions were corrected or clarified, the original report’s conclusions and recommendations were not revised.
The first document was critical of communications failures, privacy laws and other factors, and issued suggestions on improving campus-emergency procedures and notification systems, mental-health regulations, and gun-purchase reporting requirements.
Timeline
A chronology of events for April 16, 2007:
About 7:15 a.m.:, Double shooting in a dorm.
8:05 a.m.: Two university officials notify their family members about the shooting.
8:45 a.m.: A university official notifies a colleague in Richmond, saying there’s a “gunman on the loose” and adds, “This is not releasable yet.”
8:52 a.m.: The university president’s office is locked down.
9:26 a.m.: University officials send an e-mail to campus staff, faculty and students.
About 9:40 a.m.: Seung- Hui Cho has killed 32 people and injured 17 others before taking his own life.
