Kaine reassures Virginia Tech shooting victims and families

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine plans to respond to Virginia Tech shooting victims and families next week about a series of concerns they raised with him last weekend.

In an e-mail to families, Kaine said he is open to the idea of correcting facts in the state report on the April 16, 2007, massacre, when student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and professors and injured several more.

“I am figuring out the best way to do that,“ Kaine wrote, adding that he did not think it would require reconvening the panel of volunteers that did the investigation and wrote the report.

Correcting the report was a key concern of victims and families, who told the governor they wanted Tech officials to be held accountable for their actions.

Their key concerns are the delay in issuing a warning after the first two shootings and Tech’s earlier interactions with Cho, including its response to disturbing classroom behavior and a court order that he receive mental-health treatment.

Kaine’s response came after he was copied on e-mails from two family members.

The family members were upset by comments from the state panel’s chairman, W. Gerald Massengill, former state police superintendent, in which he said he was willing to correct the report but didn’t believe any changes would alter the panel’s conclusions.