Judge revokes Va. Tech fine

ROANOKE, Va., March 31 (UPI) -- A judge has ruled that officials at Virginia Tech acted reasonably on the day in 2007 a student shot and killed 32 people before taking his own life.

U.S. Administrative Law Judge Ernest Canellos, in a ruling Friday, revoked a $55,000 fine by the U.S. Department of Education, The Roanoke Times reported. The department found the university violated the Clery Act, which requires colleges and universities to notify students and staff promptly of security threats.

Seung Hui-cho, a senior at the university, killed two people in a dorm at about 7 a.m. on April 16, 2007. Two hours later, he killed 30 students and faculty in Norris Hall, a classroom building, and wounded 25 others.

Canellos said federal officials did not have "persuasive evidence" that university police and officials were unreasonable when they decided the first two shootings were targeted and probably an act of domestic violence. An e-mail warning was sent out more than two hours after the first shootings.

"This was not an unreasonable amount of time in which to issue a warning," Canellos said. "If the later shootings at Norris Hall had not occurred, it is doubtful that the timing of the e-mail would have been perceived as too late."