Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Va. Tech shooting panel to meet again privately
RICHMOND -- The state panel investigating the Virginia Tech shootings will hold another closed-door meeting next week before delivering its final report to Gov. Tim Kaine.
The eight-member panel will meet Monday at the University of Virginia to review its report and discuss protected information with lawyers, said Gerald Massengill, the panel's chairman. The panel is expected to deliver its report to Kaine before the end of the month, but no date has been set for its release.
"It will be what we hope is the final review," Massengill said of Monday's 9 a.m. meeting at UVa's Darden School of Business.
Massengill said the meeting will be closed because panel members will discuss the contents of interviews and records that "would be inappropriate to discuss in public."
"A lot of what we have in there at this point is still working papers," Massengill said.
Kaine appointed the panel within days of the April 16 shootings and asked members to investigate all aspects of the incident, including how the university and the mental health system dealt with troubled gunman Seung-Hui Cho.
The police investigation of the shooting remains incomplete, but Massengill said that will not affect the panel's ability to produce a comprehensive report.
-- Michael Sluss
