A lawyer representing the family of one of the Virginia Beach shooting victims said on Monday she wanted to carry a gun at work due to her fear of the attacker but decided against it because of the city's no-gun policy.
Kate Nixon told her husband shortly before the shooting that she was concerned about the coworker who ended up murdering her and 11 others on May 31, according to family lawyer Kevin Martingayle. The lawyer told WHRO Nixon considered carrying a firearm to her office for protection from the eventual attacker but decided not to because concealed guns were banned on the premises. His comments were first reported by the Virginian-Pilot.
"Kate expressed to her husband concerns about this individual in particular as well as one other person," Martingayle told host Cathy Lewis. "In fact, they had a discussion the night before about whether or not she should take a pistol and hide it in her handbag and decided not to, ultimately, because there is a policy, apparently, against having any kind of weapons that are concealed in these buildings."
"But they were so concerned they had that conversation," Lewis said.
"The night before it happened, they had that discussion," Martingayle said. "So, there was obviously something big going on. I don't know all the ins and outs of that and I don't know that Kate ever expressed, even to her husband, the full range of what her concerns were."
The attacker had been involved in some sort of violent altercation on city grounds in the lead up to the shooting and was facing disciplinary action, according to a report in the New York Times.
Martingayle said the family is not looking to sue the city but wants there to be an outside investigation into the attack and how it was handled.
"I think that a lot of people are mostly interested in knowing what did city officials know before this happened?" Martingayle told WHRO. "And then what exactly happened during all of the shooting."
The family's goal, he said, is transparency.
"In a situation like this, the maximum level of transparency possible is appropriate," he told the Pilot.