The Virginia Beach shooting occurred on the afternoon of May 31, 2019, when a disgruntled city employee fatally shot twelve people and wounded four others in a mass shooting at a municipal building in the Princess Anne area of Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. He was later shot dead by police officers responding to the scene.
I will post information about the Mass shooter:
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DeWayne Craddock killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building before being shot dead by police (Image: Reuters/UGC) |
DeWayne Antonio Craddock (October 15, 1978 – May 31, 2019) was identified by police as the perpetrator. He worked as an engineer in the city's public utilities department until tendering his resignation in an email he sent to city management a few hours before the attack. Having resigned "within good standing in his department", Craddock still possessed a security pass to enter employee work spaces within the building at the time of the attack. In the days prior to the shooting, he was alleged to have been involved in physical scuffles with fellow city employees and threatened with disciplinary action. However, the city manager said that when Craddock resigned, he "had no issues of discipline ongoing".
Within the span of at least three years prior to the shooting, Craddock had legally acquired multiple firearms. Two .45 ACPpistols were used in the shooting and two more weapons were found at his home, one of which was another pistol of the .45 ACP caliber. The fourth weapon is still being checked by authorities.
Craddock graduated in 1996 from Denbigh High School in Newport News. Between 1996 and 2002, he served in the Virginia Army National Guard in Norfolkas a cannon crew member with the First Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment. At the time of his discharge he held the rank of Specialist(E-4) and had not been deployed for combat service. In 2002, he graduated from Old Dominion University with a degree in civil engineering.
Prior to the shooting, Craddock did not have a criminal record with the exception of minor traffic violations.
BREAKING, Police Reveal Identity Of Virginia Beach Shooter
By Reuters Wire
Published June 1, 2019 at 6:44am
Published June 1, 2019 at 6:44am
Virginia Beach police named the gunman who killed 12 people and wounded four others at a municipal building on Friday as DeWayne Craddock, saying he was a disgruntled city engineer.
Craddock was killed in a gun battle with police after opening fire with a pistol in the building. All but one of his victims were employed by Virginia Beach, officials said, and the other was a contractor seeking a permit.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera told a news conference on Saturday that he would only give the gunman’s name once because city authorities want to focus on his victims.
Craddock had worked for the city’s public utility department for about 15 years, Cervera said. The police chief declined to comment on any possible motive, but said additional weapons were recovered at the scene and from the suspect’s home.
Police had previously said only that the suspect used a .45 caliber pistol equipped with a “sound suppressor” device and extended ammunition magazines.
It was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were slain at a Los Angeles-area bar and grill by a gunman who then killed himself.
A disgruntled public utility employee opened fire on co-workers at city offices in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, killing 12 people and wounding several others before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said the mass shooting in the coastal resort city began as the gunman entered the public works and utilities building at the city municipal center and “immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims.”
The chief later said that the suspect engaged in a “long-term gun battle” with law enforcement officers as police confronted him inside the building. One police officer was wounded in the shootout, but his bullet-proof vest saved his life, Cervera said.
The police chief said the suspect was armed with a .45-caliber handgun equipped with a “sound suppressor” device and was reloading his weapon with extended ammunition magazines as he moved through the building.
Authorities said the gunman ultimately was shot by police and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Cervera said the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee, and described him as “disgruntled,” but declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.
The shooting was believed to be the deadliest act of workplace gun violence in the United States since February, when a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.
Original Story.
There was a scene of terror and carnage at a Virginia Beach, Virginia courthouse that left 11 people dead and many more injured.
The attack occurred on Friday at the courthouse and hours later officials from the city gave a press conference to tell the frightening facts.
“Right now I can tell you we have multiple casualties, multiple fatalities. We have 11 deceased victims there at the scene, six more victims transported to area hospitals, the police chief said.
“I do not have the condition of the victims at this particular time. I can tell you one of the individuals shot by the suspect is a Virginia Beach police officer and he was saved by his vest.
“We established a family assistance center, princess Anne middle school for the employees that worked in building two, so they can meet up with their friends and families.
“We’re also in the process of identifying all of our victims so we can make personal notification to family members. We know shortly after 4:00 P.M.
“This afternoon, a suspect entered building two. He is a long time employee of public utilities. I will not release his name at this time.
“And he immediately began to indiscriminately fire on all of the victims. Officers entered once the call went out, officers were at headquarters, they responded to building two.
“They secured as much of the victims as they could, and then they engaged with the suspect. The suspect did shoot a police officer.
“Officers returned fire. The suspect is deceased. When the scene is secure, we have a long term investigative process that’s being undertaken there’s a lot of work to be done.
“It is still an active scene. We are being assisted due to size, scope, intensity of this scene, being assisted by the FBI, forensics unit, dhs forensics unit, and Virginia Beach state forensics unit.
“Medical examiner is on route, protocol for the medical examiner’s office. Right now we have a lot of questions. The whys, they will come later.
“Right now we have more questions than we have answers. We’re a little more than two hours into the event and we used the word event, that’s a cop term, a devastating thing that happened that none of us want to talk about, this devastating incident that will change the lives of a number of families from our city.
“So my goal will be to update you and confirm additional information as soon as we can. Our next briefing should be at 21:30 hours. We have been told the governor is enroute.
“We notified state senators and other elected officials, offering condolences to our city and to our family of those of us that work in Virginia Beach.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://thefederalistpapers.org/opinion/breaking-police-reveal-identity-virginia-beach-shooter
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These are the 12 victims of the Virginia Beach mass shooting. Here are their stories.
Virginia Beach shooting victim died trying to save co-workers, survivor says