WAVY.com

Many still left with deep void after VB 5/31 shootings

    • VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Joe Samaha became a victim’s advocate after his daughter, Reema Samaha, was among the 32 people killed at Virginia Tech back on April 16, 2007.

    “There’s not a day, obviously, I don’t think of her,” Joe Samaha said from his northern Virginia home. “I work on this every day. I’m a victim advocate for the foundation. I am an outreach expert, and I will never get over it.”


    Samaha established VTV Care to help fund the physical and psychological trauma related to mass shootings, and he now advocates for Virginia Beach’s 5/31 victims.

    Statements found on the VTV Care Facebook page speak to the organization’s purpose to leave no one behind, while “healing broken bodies, broken minds and broken hearts.”

    Carl Britt remembers the moment he was shot and left a paraplegic.

    “He [the shooter] said there’s a guy walking around with a gun,” Britt said. “… I turned to look at him, and I hadn’t realized he was concealing a gun at his side. The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor. When I came to the realization what my situation was, I called Cynthia, and I told her I didn’t think I can live like this. … I guess it’s the everyday things that wear on you as a person.”

    Britt also speaks of how workers’ compensation failed him in the rehabilitation of his home.

    “The renovations that were done to our home were done without us ever seeing a sketch or discussing it with the contractor,” Britt said, adding that “we had relatives that would ask the contractor about what they were doing, and his answer would be ‘I don’t work for you, I work for workers’ compensation,'” Britt said.

    Samaha, responding to the Britt interview, said that “we’ll take care of you the rest of your life was a promise that was not kept, and his home is non-ADA compliant and in Carl’s words, ‘my bedroom is a fire trap.'”

    James Moore also appears and now suffers from seizures and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). He blames the city, that supervisors knew there was something wrong with the shooter.

    “They [the city supervisors] knew he [the shooter] was wrong,” Moore said. “I do not get this because, in certain situations, they will not look at it and hold people accountable. And that’s not right.”

    Said Samaha: “If you listen to the stories of the survivors, there is a common thread throughout that five years later, and that is we are still suffering. We are still traumatized.”

    Dwight Brown’s sister, LaQuita Brown, was killed that day, and so was Mary Louise Gayle.

    “The therapy was cut off before the statute of limitations expired, and for the first two years we were waiting to receive some type of settlement,” said her daughter, Sarah Gayle Leonard.

    Ned Carlstrom saw the shooter who, for whatever reason, spared him. He still suffers emotionally with PTSD and survivor’s remorse.

    “It was about 3 minutes later … after I saw him,” Carlstrom said in an emotional sit-down interview with 10 On Your Side. “…If I had my gun, I could have shot him. … We weren’t allowed to bring guns to work. … I heard gun shots that I found were the shots that killed Ryan.”

    Ryan Keith Cox was killed.

    In the VTV Care interview, Carlstrom said he needed therapy sessions, and was checking out and was told,

    “We will take care of you for the rest of your life,” Carlstrom said. “I was at one of my therapy appointments and my therapist said we will go ahead and cover this. I need you to start paying for your appointments. I said why? She said the city stopped paying. I got on the phone with the city manager’s office, and they said you did not fill out the paperwork [for lifetime benefits] and I said, ‘what paperwork are you talking about?’”

    Said Samaha: “He was being given the run around, and not fully, you know, led down the [right] road, he was given a promise.”

    Thanks to Carlstrom’s persistence, the city changed course and honored lifetime benefits.

    “They felt that it was in the best interest of all parties involved and in public opinion that they give my lifetime benefits back,” Carlstrom said.

    Carlstrom said the city was also heavy-handed.

    “We were threatened with disciplinary action just for talking about the shooting in the days and weeks after coming back to work,” Carlstrom said.

    Kate Nixon was also killed, leaving behind her husband Jason and their three daughters. She spoke to Jason right after she was shot.

    “I got a call 15 minutes later,” he said, remembering the call. “‘Jason I have been shot.'”

    Samaha said that, of all Virginia Beach Council members, only Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten would sit down with him to discuss issues and concerns.

    Wooten believes the city did its best to address the tragedy, however, she said, “based on those concerns and issues, I would like to make sure we address them. So, I think there is more we can do absolutely.”

    Samaha said city employees were “given false leads.”

    “They were told their care would be paid for,” Samaha said. “There were promises made and promises were not kept.”

    To that, Wooten said that “no one in that predicament should have to beg for services. So that’s concerning to me, and it’s the first time that I’ve heard of that. And in that circumstance, I would think that promises made would be promises kept.”

    Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten: I think that families of victims who still need continuous services, I think it’s important that they get those services in.

    WAVY: “And that the city should help provide?”

    Wooten: Sure.

    WAVY: And reach out?

    Wooten: Absolutely.

    WAVY: Make it an ongoing partnership because of this tragedy?

    Wooten: Absolutely. I think there should be ongoing outreach. … If there are folks who are still in need, we should make sure that we’re finding ways to help them and address their concerns.

    Samaha said the city “must embrace the tragedy, not push the tragedy away and forget about it. It is theirs. They own it.”

    In the end, Samaha thinks the city of Virginia Beach needs to do a reboot.

    “These survivors are frustrated,” Samaha said. “I think part of the healing will be for the city to do a reboot, to do a reset and reach out to these families and survivors again and again and again and put their arms around them and be in this together. There’s so many, so many things that the city could do.”

    More information

    For more information about VTV Care, you can find the organization on Facebook and on YouTube.

    City resources

    The city said it is still providing services to employees affected by the 5/31 mass shooting. They include:

    The City has caringly planned employees’ return to campus. An internal transition team has been created to ensure the move is thoughtfully communicated and delivered from a trauma-informed lens. 

    What’s Next: 

    A memorial site has been selected and funding has been approved. Clearing work is in process to pave the way for future construction. 

    What’s Next: A site dedication will be held Friday, May 31, 2024 as part of annual remembrance activities. While we are disappointed that there were no responses to our May 2024 construction RFP, we are optimistic that the second issuance in June 2024 with extended delivery timeline will meet the needs of interested contractors; therefore, the completion timeline is yet to be determined.  

    A resilience center, VB Strong Center, stood for five years to support the ongoing needs of families, survivors and those directly impacted. 

    What’s Next: The VB Strong Center will close in September 2024, with various mental health services transitioning back to the City for the continuity of support through a dedicated in-house mental health professional. 

    While not a comprehensive list, several key organizational changes have taken place to address recommendations from independent investigations. 

    In addition to VB Strong Center access, below is a high-level overview of other 5/31 benefits: