Attorneys: VT officials discredited after investigation

Attorneys representing over 20 victims’ families of April 16th have released emails that were sent between staff members, phone records and hand written notes they say discredits university officials.

The settlement reached among 28 of the 32 families who lost a loved one at Virginia Tech not only gives the families $100,000 each but also requires the university to set up an electronic archive of the documents obtained by attorneys.

Attorneys say the archive should be up within the next 6 months and the university will control what goes on it.

And its what’s in those documents that has family members saying the University failed at protecting its students.

Joe Samaha who lost his daughter Reema on April 16th says “This has nothing to do with money, this has everything to do to openly discuss the failures we have discovered to create change.”

According to attorney Douglas Fierberg both VT Police Chief Wendell Flinchum and University President Charles Steger defended their decision to not put the university on a campus-wide lock down saying it “was not warranted by the circumstances or feasible”.

However, according to emails uncovered by the firm’s investigation, Fierberg says “Neither public official revealed that certain university security officials and their building had already gone into lock down and protected themselves after the first murders.”

Bernadette Mondy Co-Director of the Department of Environmental Health and Safety Services which is responsible for the University’s emergency response plan, sent an email at 9:25 am to her family.  Mondy wrote: “There is an active shooter on campus and it’s making national news. My office is in lockdown. This is horrible. I’ll let you know when it’s over.”

Click here to listen to lawyer’s statement on lockdown e-mail

Click to read the e-mail

Later at 9:36 am, Mondy emailed the staff: “Until we get further info on the shooting, we are locking the building. Please do not go out on campus until you hear from one of our managers.”

Click here to listen to lawyer’s claim on 2 versions of West AJ shootings

Click to read e-mail #2

The shooting in Norris Hall began around 9:40 am. Fierberg says “Norris hall was not put into lockdown, students were not warned to stay away from campus, only these security officials and perhaps others got that warning.”

The warning students and faculty got that morning from University officials was in an email sent out at 9:26 am which read: “A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.

The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case.”

According to attorney Peter Grenier the 9:26 email was changed by members of the policy group before it went out, “We obtained hand written notes from a policy group member and those notes contain the text of an earlier draft…..had that version of the email been sent out, students and faculty would’ve been warned specifically that one student had been murdered and another was in critical condition. The danger of being on campus would’ve been instantly evident.”

Click here to listen to lawyer’s evidence on Policy Committee

Click to read the original handwritten version that was changed

Wednesday afternoon, Gerald Massengill head of the state panel investigating the shooting, said he was never made aware of the emails sighting the lockdown at the Health and Safety building.