The town of Blacksburg has received notices of potential legal action in regards to last April’s Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 dead. Lawyers representing the families of victims sent Blacksburg notice of 25 possible lawsuits in time for the October deadline. Filing notice does not guarantee that lawsuits will follow, but it certifies the possibility. Twenty of those notifications came from D.C. personal injury attorney Peter Grenier, who is representing families of 12 who were killed and eight who were injured in the shooting. A spokesman for the state attorney general said that as of October 17, he was aware of 20 notices for possible claims against the state from Grenier as well.
 The town of Blacksburg got notice of 25 possible lawsuits related to the April 16 Virginia Tech shooting. Charlottesville spokesman Ric Barrick says that our city has done "a complete evaluation of procedures but found that most of what we had in place would have been the best response to an event like that here." |
The claims against Blacksburg officials include negligence, reckless misconduct and civil rights violations, including the right to life and personal security. Specific complaints against the Blacksburg police focus on the lack of sufficient notification to Tech officials and students of the potential severity of the situation, as well as inadequate investigation following the initial shootings, when Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two students in a dormitory two hours before his second attack that killed 30. According to the claims, police only looked for the boyfriend of the first victim as a potential suspect and told university officials that this identified suspect had probably left campus. Letters included with the claims also cited the fact that while Blacksburg public schools immediately issued a lockdown following the first shootings, the Virginia Tech campus remained open.
The deadline to file notifications of lawsuits against a locality is six months after the event, which meant that October 16 was the last day they could be filed. Notice of claims against Virginia Tech or the state must be sent by April 16, 2008. No official lawsuits have been filed yet, either against the locality, state or school.
Charlottesville and Albemarle officials declined to comment on the claims, but city spokesman Ric Barrick weighed in on how Charlottesville has responded to the tragedy. "We have done a complete evaluation of procedures but found that most of what we had in place would have been the best response to an event like that here," Barrick says via e-mail. "Police did provide heightened security in and out of their offices as a response and have been actively involved in some of the seminars and brainstorming that they are doing down in Blacksburg and here at UVA."
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