6 Months After Virginia Tech, Lawsuits Loom

The Virginia Tech shootings six months ago Tuesday left 32 people dead and 20 threatening to sue. A lawyer yesterday notified state and town officials that he represents the families of 12 people killed and eight wounded; the group is weighing legal action on the grounds that town employees “failed to conduct a reasonably thorough and professionally appropriate investigation,” the AP reports.

Notice of intent had to be served by Tuesday in order to meet a 6-month deadline on reserving the right to sue local governments. At issue is the 2-hour window between the initial shootings at the dorm and the later massacre at the classroom building, during which the lawyer argues university and town officials failed to adequately notify and protect the campus, calling the college’s e-mail warning “inaccurate and incomplete.” (More Virginia Tech stories.)