VT families, survivors to join DC rally

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A group representing families and victims of the mass killings at Virginia Tech in April 2007 is joining a rally in the nation's capital in support of the Violence Against Women Act.

Members of the VTV Family Outreach Foundation will join others Tuesday in Washington to call on Congress to promptly pass the reauthorization of the act. One of the speakers will be Colin Goddard, a survivor of the April 16, 2007, massacre on the Blacksburg campus.

He'll explain how provisions of the reauthorized act could have helped Tech officials better intervene when the student-gunman responsible for the shootings was reported for stalking and other incidents of escalating threatening behavior.

The VTV Family Outreach Foundation was established by the families and survivors of the 2007 Tech shootings.