Continuing Coverage by:

Tech Panel Not Sure When Findings Will Be Made Public

July 25, 2007

By Carlos Santos

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The leader of the panel reviewing the Virginia Tech massacre said yesterday that he is still uncertain when the panel's findings will be released to the public.

"We're working on a sort of fluid timetable," Col. W. Gerald Massengill said after meeting with the panel in a closed session in Charlottesville.

The meeting of the panel members, its staff and lawyers was a carry-over of last week's closed meeting in Charlottesville.

"We basically continued the discussion toward the final report,'' Massengill said.

He said the panel hopes to give a report to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine by mid to late August. "He'll have a chance to see our work before it's final," Massengill said.

The families of the victims also will see a draft of the report before the general public does.

"We're still looking for a way to involve the families in a higher level than the public," he said.

The panel plans to hold a final public meeting sometime after Kaine and the families glimpse its findings and recommendations.

Massengill said it was important that the panel be transparent to keep the trust of the public.

Some families, though, have warned through their lawyers that they will regard the panel as legitimate only if it finds that Virginia Tech put the victims in harm's way.

Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, a mentally unstable senior, killed 32 students and teachers on April 16 before killing himself in the largest massacre on a university campus in U.S. history. Kaine created the panel to review exactly what happened and why.

Contact Carlos Santos at csantos@timesdispatch.com or (804) 339-6306.