VA Tech: 2 families awarded $4 million each

MoonHowler

Two families have each been awarded $4 million dollars for the wrongful deaths of their children during the VA Tech massacre on April 16, 2007.  The jury ruled that administration and the campus police did not send out an early enough warning of two shootings on campus. The school argued that they thought the shootingdeaths were isolated incidents.

The school has already filed an appeal. The other victims’s families settled out of court.

I am simply not sure how I feel about this jury award.  I just don’t know.  31 more people were killed within the next 3,5 hours after the first shooting.  Had students been warned and gone in to lock down, could lives have been saved?

Read more at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

VA Tech fined over failed campus security in 2007 massacre

MoonHowler

As VA Tech continues to heal from the worst massacre in US history, they got dealt another blow, this time by the US Department of Education.  According to the Washington Post:

The federal government said Tuesday that it plans to issue the maximum possible fine against Virginia Tech — $55,000 — for violations of a campus safety law in connection with the 2007 shooting rampage that left more than 30 students and teachers dead.

A federal official wrote in a letter to Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger that the penalty for failing to provide timely warnings about the threat to the campus on the day of the massacre should be greater.

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