At roughly 4 p.m. on Friday, a gunman who was reportedly an employee of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center in Virginia entered Building 2, which includes offices for planning and public works and is adjacent to City Hall, and opened fire. By the end of the incident, he had killed 11 victims and he was killed in a gunfight with police, according to police.
Six more people were injured and taken to a hospital according to Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera, who added one injured victim was a Virginia Beach Police officer wearing a bulletproof vest.
The suspect was killed after engaging with police officers, according to Cervera. He stated:
We do know that shortly after 4 pm. the suspect entered building 2; 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 the victims. Officers entered once the call went out, the officers were at headquarters, they responded to building 2; 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; suspect is deceased. While the scene is secure, we have a long-term investigative process that’s being undertaken right now. There’s a lot of work to be done; it’s still an active scene. We are being assisted due to the size and scope and intensity of this scene we are being assisted by the FBI Forensics Unit, DHS Forensics Unit, and the Virginia State Police Forensics Unit.
Virginia Beach mayor Bobby Dyer told a press conference, “This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach. The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues. “
