Some Virginia Tech officials locked down their offices at least 20 minutes before Seung-Hui Cho burst into Norris Hall and killed 30 people -- and even before a campuswide alert was issued about his first two killings in another building.

E-mails from the co-director of the university office responsible for its emergency planning showed her building was on lockdown and that some officials knew "there is an active shooter on campus" while top officials were saying they saw no need to suspend classes or lock down the campus.

The e-mails were released last night by lawyers for the families of several victims who agreed yesterday to an $11 million settlement with the state. Among other things, the agreement calls on top university officials to meet families and victims and explain their actions during the worst campus massacre in U.S. history.

That e-mail was sent a minute before a campuswide alert urged people "to be cautious" after what it called a "shooting incident" at West Ambler Johnston Hall.

That alert had been toned down from an earlier draft that proposed disclosing that one student had died and another was injured, according to a memo released by the lawyers. Cho shot and killed two people at the dormitory.

And shortly after the alert went out, but before Cho chained the doors at Norris Hall and started shooting, the same official forwarded the official alert to colleagues at nearby schools and added:

"Unofficial word is that 2 people have died and the shooter is still at large. Tactical teams are staging in blacksburg. My building is in lockdown. Bombs, shootings. . . . I'm moving to a smaller town."

Repeated efforts to reach Tech spokesmen and several key university officials for comment yesterday evening were unsuccessful.

Douglas Fierberg, one of the lawyers for the families, said one professor had phoned her husband shortly after he dropped her off at work that day, and about an hour and 15 minutes before Cho started his rampage in Norris Hall, to say her building was on "quasi lockdown."

He said the families were upset that some university officials knew to protect themselves while allowing students and staff to walk into danger.

"We are acting on behalf of the departed and the injured, to say: 'Never again,'" said Joseph Samaha, father of 18-year-old Reema Samaha, shortly after the lawyers disclosed the e-mails.

He said the families thought the university should have given more timely warnings of danger and more accurate descriptions of what that danger was.

The families also felt the school ignored the risks posed by Cho, by allowing him to return to the dorms after living off campus and by not taking action after he was charged with stalking female students and professors complained about his bizarre behavior.

Officials have promised a briefing on what they have done to improve safety, while the governor and attorney general will outline what they are doing in response to the massacre.

Former Virginia State Police Superintendent W. Gerald Massengill, who led the state task force that investigated the massacre, said he felt the university's top officials waited too long to warn the campus and probably should have suspended classes and secured buildings after the first shooting.

He said the investigation focused on top officials and wasn't looking at whether other offices went on lockdown.

In yesterday's settlement, the state did not admit any liability for the deaths or injuries.

Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.