Leavitt will join U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of Education in Utah visit

Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, and Education, Margaret Spellings, will accompany Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Utah to explore and discuss the tragic shooting at Trolley Square as part of a multi-state exploration into public shootings in light of the recent massacre at Virginia Tech.

President George W. Bush has directed three of his top senior staff to travel to the states of Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas and California beginning tomorrow to explore what can be learned from such tragedies.

Former Utah governor Leavitt, Spellings and Gonzales are expected to meet with local leaders, educators, mental health experts and law enforcement officials. The issues will then be summarized in a report by the trio and presented to the president within 30 days.

"The pain of this tragedy is felt throughout this nation and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, families and friends and the entire Virginia Tech community," Leavitt is quoted in a Department of Justice press release.

Thirty-two students and teachers were killed earlier this month when mentally-disturbed student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus, resulting in the worst school campus shootings in U.S. History. Cho then took his own life.

For residents of Utah, the campus shooting opened up fresh emotional wounds from the Feb. 12 shootings at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City that left six dead, including the gunman, Sulejman Talovic, and four wounded.

"While our review will not answer all the questions or solve all the problems, we hope to frame up a series of issues as part of a thoughtful, national dialogue and determine where the federal government can play a role in helping states and communities avoid such tragedies in the future," Leavitt stated.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com