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Virginia Beach council members propose independent investigation into municipal center shooting

The proposals come just one day after Delegate Cheryl Turpin and Delegate Kelly Fowler called on city council to hire a third-party to investigate the shooting.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — On Tuesday, Virginia Beach City Vice Mayor Jim Wood and Councilmember Sabrina Wooten each proposed resolutions for an independent investigation into the shooting at the municipal center that killed 12 people and injured four on May 31.

In Vice Mayor Wood's proposal, the city auditor would manage the contract with the third-party consultant, but the city and the city auditor would not oversee, manage or interfere with any part of the investigation.

Wood's proposal also specifies the need for a written assurance from law enforcement that the investigation would not interfere with the current police investigation into the tragedy.

Wooten's proposal states the city manager would hire a third-party to conduct the investigation, but it doesn't require any assurance from law enforcement, but rather says the investigation would happen "expeditiously and without delay."

Wooten proposed that "the investigation should examine everything that led to the shooting, events during the shooting and events after the Tragedy including FBI reports and should focus on [the shooter's] personnel file, promotion history, disciplinary records from all of his supervisors and the culture of the work environment."

In Wood's proposal he calls for the investigation to include "a timeline, a review of the perpetrator's employment history and workplace interactions, a review of city policies, procedures and practices including, without limitation, those related to facility security, prevention of workplace violence and employee alerting and response to active shooter notifications."

Both proposals state the aim of the independent investigation would be in the interest of transparency and that the investigation would be paid for with the Risk Management Fund.

The proposal comes just one day after Delegate Cheryl Turpin and Delegate Kelly Fowler wrote a letter to the Virginia Beach City Council calling for a third-party to investigate the shooting.

"Delegate Turpin and I will continue to stand with and advocate on behalf of the families who have suffered during this tragedy," said Delegate Fowler. "We need an independent review of the policies, procedures, and events leading up to the shooting. The General Assembly must know every detail of the events leading up to [May 31], as these details may help save lives. We urge transparency and decisiveness from our fellow leaders without delay.”

Turpin said as the special session draws closer they need more information the hope of an independent investigation is to give the Virginia General Assembly as many details as possible before the special session scheduled for July 9.

"We looked at the amount of information we were getting as elected officials and we're frustrated that there was definitely a time that we were briefed and then, suddenly, the information kind of stopped moving forward," said Turpin.

Turpin and Fowler mention issues they heard were reported during the shooting like first responders' "inability to gain access to the building because of electronic locks" and "communication failures and delays."

Turpin said the goal of a third-party investigation is transparency because she heard reports that "family members of victims not receiving adequate information."

Kate Nixon's lawyer and husband both called for an independent hearing as well as Josh Hardy's twin sister.

Jason Nixon's goal for speaking out was to get the word out that an independent investigation is needed to get answers.

The family has hired an attorney, Kevin Martingayle, to look into the process that would be similar to an investigation after the 2017 Charlottesville riots.

"If you can't have an independent investigation. How are you going to know what really happened?" Jason Nixon said.

Martingayle told 13News Now that Kate Nixon previously told her husband about concerns with the shooter and another co-worker. He said it proved the need for more information outside of police and FBI.  

"We have a much broader area of concern," said Martingayle. "We want to know everything about what led up to the shooting in terms of human resources personnel and what they knew...everything that happened during the shooting event and everything that happened afterward."

“We really want an independent investigation done, we want to know the truth about what really happened to my brother,” said Denise Smallwood, Hardy's twin.

She believes there is information about the shooter the city is not releasing.

“It seems as though they are more concerned about the city of Virginia Beach and not these families,” said Smallwood. “This shooter, I won’t say his name, I just believe he had on-going problems.”

Martingayle said he has received information that the shooter had a history of trouble.

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