A ministers’ group is concerned independent investigators looking into the May 31 mass shooting are brushing off complaints from workers that the city has a toxic work environment.
Gary McCollum, a member of the Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference, said he worries the investigators are also ignoring the race of the city engineer who carried out the shooting. He was black.
“Most mass shootings in this country are done by who? White males,” McCollum said. “How can you do an investigation that does not address the racial component? You can’t ignore the elephant in the room.”
In July, the city hired Hillard Heintze, a Chicago consulting firm, to review the tragedy at the Municipal Center that left 13 dead, including the gunman, and injured four city workers.
Since the investigation began on July 23, the company has held two public meetings in which some employees complained of issues in the workplace. Since then, the Interdenominational Ministers Conference said employees have called them and said they are fearful to speak up about the city’s work culture.
“We have some serious concerns about the independent investigation,” said Veronica Coleman, the vice president of the Ministers Conference.
Ken Bouche, the chief operating officer for Hillard Heintze, said his group does not plan to look into the city’s work environment because it is outside the scope of the investigation. The topic may be listed as an unsolved issue in the final report, he said, which is expected to be released in October. He declined to comment further or to directly address the ministers’ comments. His firm is scheduled to give the City Council a progress report on Tuesday, but they don’t plant to reveal any findings at that time.
City Auditor Lyndon Remias, who is overseeing the independent investigation, said he thinks the ministers are trying to hijack its focus. He said Hillard Heintze was brought in to look at the mass shooting incident, not to investigate the city’s work culture. Although, he said, the investigators could look into that issue if the evidence showed it was a root cause of the shooting.
He said the ministers’ real agenda is to get City Manager Dave Hansen fired, which the group asked the council to do in a letter earlier this month.
“I don’t think race is a significant factor as far as getting to the reason of why this all happened,” Remias said. “I really do think they have an agenda.”
McCollum said the ministers are not trying to take over the probe. He said the group doesn’t know if race is a factor, but the public won’t know for sure unless investigators look at any disparities in how people are treated in the workplace.
“We believe the work culture was a contributing factor to what happened,” he said. “And it could happen again if we don’t get to the heart of the issue.”
