CHRISTIANSBURG, va. — Virginia Tech’s president Friday defended his actions during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, saying in court: “I tried my best.”
President Charles Steger testified for two hours at a wrongful death trial brought by the families of two students killed during the April 16, 2007, campus attack. The civil suit claims university officials delayed warning the campus of the initial two shootings in a dormitory and then attempted to cover up their missteps. In the end, 33 people were dead.
Steger said officials delayed sending a warning to avoid panic on campus and allow the university to identify the first two victims and contact their families. Gunman Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed those students in a dormitory before shooting others hours later at a classroom building.
Asked by an attorney for the parents if he erred, Steger said: “That’s not my conclusion. We did the best we could.”
At the conclusion of Robert Hall’s questioning, he asked Steger whether he cared to say anything to the parents who filed the lawsuit. An attorney for the state objected before Steger could answer.
The parents have said they want an apology from Steger.
Attorneys for the families of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson claim their daughters and others might have survived if the university had warned the students earlier of the first slayings.
