Reopen Va. Tech Probe, Add Gunman's Medical File Info, Families Urge
Following news last week that the long-missing mental health file had been found for the gunman who massacred 32 people in a 2007 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, injured survivors and family members of those who died are urging that an investigation be reopened.
They are calling on Va. Gov. Timothy Kaine to reopen a special panel he convened to look into the shootings by Seung-Hui Cho, a student who committed suicide after the attacks, and thus ensure the report the panel prepared includes all the facts and is accurate, recounts the Washington Post.
The mental health file was found last week in the home of a physician who formerly served as medical director of the college’s counseling center. Dr. Robert Miller’s lawyer says the physician accidentally took the file home more than a year before the Va. Tech massacre, inadvertently including it among the personal belongings he packed when leaving his job, reports the Associated Press.
He discovered it only recently, as he was unpacking the box, after being named as a defendant in litigation filed by two families against the college over the shootings, the Post says.
In a written statement, those calling for the investigation to be reopened say “We feel an incomplete and inaccurate report does not respect our loved ones, or us, and is potentially harmful to the public,” because recommendations made about preventing such mass slayings in the future may not be based on all the facts, reports CNN.
The governor says it may be difficult to reconvene the same panel but has suggested that factual issues be brought to the attention of staff members who worked on the report.
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Virginia Tech Gunman’s Missing Counseling File Found in Doctor’s Home”
