At least 12 people were killed Friday after a gunman opened fire at a municipal building in Virginia Beach. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the US since November.
Police held a news conference Saturday morning to give updates on the investigation and to identify the victims.
“Today we all grieve,” Dave Hansen, the city manager for Virginia Beach, said.
Here’s everything we know about the shooting:
James Cervera, the Virginia Beach Chief of Police, said officers in the department had a training on how to handle “large-scale events,” such as mass shootings, just weeks before last night’s deadly attack.
“As recent as March 30, we had a large-scale training event, which incorporated not only police, but our colleagues in fire and EMS and sheriff’s department to be able to respond to a large-scale event, such as this,” he said.
He said that while training is important to establish protocols “everything changes” during real events.
“While we train extensively, while we go over all of our protocols extensively, once you enter an environment such as this, everything changes. Things change in a moment’s notice, such as the gun battle with the suspect. So we did train as recent as March 30, but officers had to make instantaneous decisions at that moment in time on how to engage the suspect.
Virginia Beach police named DeWayne Craddock as the suspected shooter in yesterday deadly shooting at a Virginia Beach City building.
Here’s what we know about the suspect:
Dave Hansen, the Virginia Beach City Manager, just listed the names of the 12 people who were killed in yesterday’s shooting. All but one were employees of the city, he said.
Dave Hansen, the Virginia Beach City Manager, said 11 of the 12 people who were killed in yesterday’s shooting were employees of the city.
“I have worked with most of them for many years,” he said. “Today we all grieve,” he said.
Police in Virginia Beach will give an update on last night’s shooting rampage in a city building at 8 a.m. this morning.
At least 12 people died in the shooting. The suspect has been identified as DeWayne Craddock, according to a law enforcement official and a Virginia government source. The shooter, described as a disgruntled employee, died after a gunfight with police.
At least 12 people were killed by a gunman who opened fire at a city building in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Four other victims were also hospitalized.
The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US since November.
Here’s what we know about the shooting:
Cassetty Howerin, 23, who lives below the shooter, told CNN affiliate WAVY she could hear him awake at all hours of the night.
“He seemed like a nice guy, he introduced himself when we first moved in…it’s just crazy,” she said.
The Virginia Beach Police Department had planned to hold an active shooter training on Saturday, City Councilman Michael Berlucchi confirmed to CNN’s Don Lemon.
The Police Department had announced the “Active Threat Citizens Defense” event on Facebook. It aimed to “enhance preparedness for citizens to ‘rise to the occasion’ instead of ‘settle to the level of their training,’” according to the Facebook page.
Berlucchi said today’s shooting is “the worst nightmare for our city.”
Watch below:
The Virginia Beach shooting suspect is DeWayne Craddock, according to a law enforcement official and a Virginia government source.
DeWayne Craddock, 40, worked as a certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach in the Public Utilities Department. He is listed on department press releases as a point of contact for information on local road projects over the last several years. A search of online court records in Virginia Beach and surrounding counties shows Craddock was cited for a motor vehicle infraction in 2013, but nothing else.
According to a 1996 news report, Craddock served in the Army National Guard as a private after attending Denbigh High in Newport News.
Authorities recovered a .45 caliber handgun with extended magazines and a suppressor, Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said at tonight’s press conference.
Two law enforcement sources said the weapons appeared to have been legally purchased. One of those sources said the purchases were made in recent weeks.
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Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said officers were able to locate the suspect inside the building due to the sound of gunfire.
Four officers arrived to building, which houses public works, public utility and a printing operation, and heard the gunshots, the chief said at the news conference.
“They immediately engaged with the suspect, and I can tell you that it was a long gun battle between those four officers and that suspect,” Cervera said.
He said officers recovered a .45 caliber handgun, with multiple extended magazines that were emptied at the time.
The chief went on to say the suspect was reloading the extended magazines in that handgun, firing at the victims in the building and at officers.
Watch:
Mayor Bobby Dyer, speaking at a news conference tonight, said today’s shooting was “Virginia Beach’s darkest hour.”
Dyer vowed that the community would come together and “show that Virginia Beach is a city of resolve and dedication.”
“When we get through the shock of it all and we get through the details that we must go through over the next day or two, I believe that our community, Virginia Beach, along with our neighbors and our other cities and Hampton Roads and our commonwealth and our country will be there for not only the families because that’s when they’re going to need us going forward, but we’re going to show that Virginia Beach is a city of resolve and dedication and, you know, we are going to be there for all the families, the friends and our community in a big way,” he said.
Watch:
The death toll in the Virginia Beach shooting increased to 12, Police Chief James Cervera said.
An additional victim died on the way to the hospital, he said at a news conference tonight. Four victims are currently being treated at area hospitals, the chief said.
Cervera said they also have “reports that others may have self-transported so as we get more information on that, we will begin to release it.”
The victims, he said, were found on all three floors of the building, and one victim was found in a vehicle outside.
The chief said the name of the suspect is known, but family members have not been notified, so the name of the suspect is not being released at this time.
Watch:
The Virginia Beach Police Department will soon hold a news conference about the deadly shooting at the municipal building.
Alyssa Andrews was with her 1-year-old grandson when she took a photo of a man with a bloodied shirt outside the municipal building in Virginia Beach.
The man’s identity and his condition were not immediately known.
She told CNN’s John Berman she was sitting in her car waiting for her daughter and was “so afraid.”
“I couldn’t believe it was happening. I was so afraid because they were circling the building. And I just — I didn’t know what to do,” she said.
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Democrats running for president in 2020 reacted to the deadly shooting in a Virginia Beach city building, with many candidates calling for more gun reform.
Here’s what they said:
Former Vice President Joe Biden
Julian Castro
Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Wayne Messam
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Rep. Eric Swalwell
Sen. Kamala Harris
John Hickenlooper
Sen. Bernie Sanders
Beto O’Rourke
Jay Inslee
John Delaney
Andrew Yang
Sen. Cory Booker
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Virginia Beach Vice Mayor James Wood said the shooting is “without a doubt the most horrific thing that our city has experienced.”
“Virginia Beach is a very large city. It’s 150,000 people in the city. So the municipal center is where the administrative staff this. This is the operations building,” Wood told CNN today.
Wood said the shooting started around 4 p.m. He reaffirmed that at this time the number of fatalities is still 11, but noted “the number 11 could change.”
“When people are taking in a Medevac helicopter, that’s a serious thing. You know right now, it’s part of the investigation, we’re determining the various hospitals that victims were taken to so we can identify victims and check on their conditions and that sort of thing so it’s still ongoing. It will be another hour or so before we have another briefing update. But it’s a really horrible thing,” Wood said.
He noted that in Virginia people are allowed to bring weapons into all public buildings, except for courts and schools.
“As a matter of fact, you can go up to one of the front door of a police station. There will be a sign on the door, saying you know, ‘Please leave your weapon in the car. However, if you don’t, please notify us,’” Wood said.
CNN has received a recording of the emergency radio traffic as the shooting unfolded.
In the recording, you can hear the moment emergency responders located the suspect.
“Clear the air! We have the suspect behind a barricaded door. Stay off the radio,” a first responder said.
Listen to the emergency radio traffic:
The Virginia Beach Police Department will hold a news conference at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera told reporters at a news conference earlier today the shooter was a public utilities worker.
He said the shooter died after a gunfight with police.
A semi-automatic pistol and a rifle were found at the scene and investigators believe they were used in the shooting, according to a law enforcement official.
The suspect is believed to have purchased the firearms legally, according to the investigators’ preliminary information.
