RICHMOND -- The family of Seung-Hui Cho has allowed Virginia Tech to release his university mental health records to a gubernatorial investigative panel, a development that could help answer some key questions about the April 16 campus shootings and the troubled student who committed them.

Cho's father authorized the university to turn over the records to the Virginia Tech Incident Review Panel, an eight-member group appointed by Gov. Tim Kaine. The panel received the records Wednesday, chairman Gerald Massengill said.

Cho, a 23-year-old English major, killed himself in Norris Hall after a shooting rampage that left 30 other students and faculty dead. Two other students were shot to death in a dormitory building.

The records may help the panel determine whether Cho received treatment at Tech's Cook Counseling Center. A report by the state inspector general of mental health indicates that Cho made an appointment with the center on Dec. 14, 2005, before a hearing in which a special justice ordered him to get outpatient treatment. But privacy laws have prevented the panel from finding out whether Cho kept the appointment.

Tech officials began negotiations with Cho's family through a liaison on May 22, one day after the panel met on the Blacksburg campus, university spokesman Larry Hincker said.

Cho's father agreed to waive Tech's privacy obligation to make the records available to the panel, but not to the general public.

Kaine said the records ultimately will have "a high degree of publicity and transparency" because they will help shape the panel's final report.

"It's always been my contemplation that the important information will be out in public when the report is done," said Kaine, who expects to get recommendations from the panel in August.

Panel members have expressed frustration over their inability to access Cho's medical and academic records, which they consider essential to their review of the shootings.

Diane Strickland, a former Roanoke County Circuit Court judge, said during Monday's meeting that the panel was "operating with our hands tied" without access to the records. She said Thursday that getting Cho's counseling records is "very, very encouraging."

"I'm thrilled we're going to have this information made available to us," she said.

Massengill said getting Cho's records from the Cook Counseling Center "was a first step."

"We really appreciate the Cho family and Virginia Tech making sure these records were made available," he said Thursday.

Massengill said the panel will continue to pursue other records that could shed light on Cho's interactions with the mental health system.

Massengill would not get into specifics when asked how the panel might get those records. He has previously said that the Virginia Crime Commission could use its subpoena power to get the material. But it is unclear whether that commission, which is a legislative agency, could share the material with Kaine's panel.

Some family members of the shooting victims also have raised concerns about the limited access to Cho's records. Elizabeth Hilscher of Woodville, whose daughter Emily was one of the first victims, said panel members "are highly constrained by privacy laws and federal laws, and it is very frustrating to them and to us.

"If we want to truly try to analyze what has occurred and prevent it from happening again, it is imperative that it all is released," she said.

"This panel cannot do their job without the full picture," she said. "If you want my honest opinion, at this point, when you have an individual who has taken all of the rights away from 32 individuals, I find it difficult to believe that he has continued assurance of his privacy."

Patrick Strollo, the older brother of critically injured student Hilary Strollo, said making Cho's mental health records public will only confirm "what we already know: that he was suicidal and mentally ill, and that there was a gap in information-sharing" among government, mental health and university entities.

"I think it's good for the independent review panel to see the records and get a better glimpse into Cho's life, but there's probably not a need for the general public to see them," said Patrick Strollo, who graduated from Tech in May and is spending the summer taking care of his sister at their parents' home in Gibsonia, Pa.

Derek O'Dell, 20, of Roanoke County, who was shot in the arm during a German class in Norris Hall, welcomed the release of the records to the panel. But releasing the material to the public would not be helpful, he said.

"I think in a way it contributes more to memorializing him with the 32 victims, so the less press coverage he gets, I'm in favor of it," O'Dell said.

O'Dell's father, Roger, said all of Cho's mental health, medical and scholastic records should be released -- both to the panel and the public.

"Learning more about Cho can help avert a similar tragedy in the future," Roger O'Dell said.

"I would view it as part of their role to look into Cho the man," he said. "What made him tick? What pushed him over the edge?"

Staff writers Greg Esposito, Pamela Podger, Beth Macy and Matt Chittum contributed to this report.