Va Tech Families Question State's Ability to Investigate Cho Shootings

The families of 20 students and faculty members killed by Seung Hui Cho during the Virginia Tech massacre in April are pressing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for a bigger role on the panel that will investigate the shootings, which left 33 dead, including Cho. The families are concerned that the state will not be objective enough in looking into the tragedy, particularly the police response to Cho's rampage.

Kaine has appointed eight people to the Virginia Tech Review Panel, including experts in law enforcement, psychology and academia. But after a meeting with the relatives of victims on Saturday, Kaine also announced that he would not appoint a family member to the panel. Relatives have been pushing for more involvement, raising fears that the current panel may have a conflict of interest. Cho shot his first two victims around 7:15. Two hours later, he showed up on the other side of campus and killed 30 more people. Between the incidents, the school and the police failed to lockdown the campus.

From yesterday's Washington Post:

"Kaine gave the panel members free rein to investigate Virginia
Tech's response to the massacre as well as the circumstances that might have caused it, including whether Cho was treated for mental illness. But from the start, questions were raised about the panel's impartiality. At the first meeting in May, W. Gerald Massengill , a retired state police superintendent who is the group's chairman, received a private briefing from state and federal law enforcement officials. After the meeting, Massengill told the other panel members that they "should be proud" of the response of the authorities April
16, suggesting that Massengill had his mind made up before the panel's work had even begun.

'I think we know enough about the response to know it was very effective and a very successful response,' Massengill told reporters later. Massengill backed away from his comments, saying he wasn't prejudging the investigation....

Questions have been raised in the past about Massengill's objectivity in investigating the actions of law enforcement. When he headed the state police, blacks and civil libertarians said Massengill failed to recognize their concerns about racial profiling."