Yesterday, a gunman opened fire at a municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia sending employees scrambling for cover prior to police fatally shot and killed him. About 12 people were killed when employees opened fire on colleagues. In this incident, several others were also wounded. This incident began after 4 pm local time at 9 pm UK time yesterday with the suspect named DeWayne Craddock, 40.
Mostly all the victims were found across three floors of building along with one shot dead in a car in the outer area. Another victim died in an ambulance, which was on its way to a local hospital.
As per James Cervera, Virginia Beach Police Chief, a veteran employee of the Public Utilities Department, entered the municipal centre and ‘instantly started to fire upon all of the victims indiscriminately.’ He confirmed that police identified the attacker, however, would not disclose his name till authorities could reach family members. He said ‘we will mention his name once and he will be forever referred to as the suspect.’
As per Cervera police entered the building and got out several employees as much as they could, after that they exchanged fire with the suspect and killed him. As per the chief, the suspect was armed with a .45 caliber handgun equipped with a ‘sound suppressor’ device. He was reloading his weapon with extended ammunition magazines as he moved throughout the building.
Bobby Dyer, city’s Mayor, called this day as ‘the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach’. Also, a public works employee told media that employees were at their desks at the time when gunshots rang out and recounted observing a severely injured woman in a stairwell.
Ralph Northam, Virginia Governor, supposed in a statement that he was devastated by the unspeakable and senseless violence. He is also offering the state’s full support to survivors and relatives of the victims.
The white house also alleged that President Donald Trump had been briefed and was also monitoring the situation. Cervera said that ‘the precise situation of yesterday’s shooting was investigated with Homeland Security Department forensic technicians and FBI agents assisting local police because of the scope and size of the intensity of crime scene. The chief said that the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee and was disgruntled.
The shooting was one of the deadliest
Yesterday’s shooting was considered as one of the deadliest acts of workplace gun violence in the US. Prior in February, a factory worker fired five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois. As per the Gun Violence Archive website in 2019, at least 150 mass shootings were marked. They have also documented about 5764 people killed as well as 11060 injured by gun-related incidents since 1st January 2019.
In February also the US House of Representatives permitted two bills regarding the checking for gun purchases, however, the legislation faces opposition from the White House as well as Republican-controlled Senate.
Virginia Beach is situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and is considered as the most populous city in Virginia, having approximately 450,000 residents.
On this incident mayor, Dyer supposed that ‘you don’t prepare for something like this. It is a nightmare nobody wants to live through.’
Also, an administrative assistant named Megan Banton who works in the same building said she heard gunshots called 911 and barricaded herself along with 20 colleagues inside the office; she pushed a desk against the door to stay safe. She said, ‘we all tried to do everything to keep ourselves safe. We were all just scared as it felt like it was not real like we were in a dream. You were terrified as all you can hear is the gunshots only.’
