12 People Dead in Virginia Beach Municipal Building Shooting

The shooting, which took place in a municipal building in Virginia Beach on Friday, is now the deadliest mass shooting this year.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Jun 03, 2019

Twelve people died and four more were injured in a mass shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach last Friday making it the deadliest mass shooting of 2019. 

According to police, the suspected shooter was an employee who would have had access to the building. He began his rampage around 4 p.m. just hours after reportedly putting in his two-weeks notice with his supervisor.

The attack begun when the gunman shot the first victim outside Building 2, a three-story brick structure that currently held about 400 municipal workers. The suspect then made his way inside the building where he moved between floors firing at those inside. Police would later tell the media that victims were found on all three floors of the building.

The suspect was using a .45 caliber handgun with a silencer. Police believe that he used this weapon as a way to prolong his attack, keeping victims from knowing where he was in the building. Police said at a press conference that the suspect reloaded his weapon several times.

The gunman was killed in an "intense firefight" with four responding officers on the second floor of the building. The suspect fired numerous shots through an office door and wall toward the officers before the gunfire stopped, police said. The responding officers then made the difficult decision to engage the suspect. 

Police found the suspect alive but wounded and began administering first aid. He died en route to the hospital.

One officer was shot in the stomach during the gunfire, but was saved from critical injures by his bulletproof vest.

Police are still investigating the motive for the shooting. While the suspect had put in his notice to leave earlier that morning, the city said that he did not face any disciplinary measures before he notified the city he intended to quit. 

"He was in good standing within his department," Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen said. "No issue of discipline ongoing."

The victims in the attack seem to be shot at random and police do not believe any of the victims who died in the attack were targeted by the gunman.

Eleven of the 12 victims killed in the attack worked for the city of Virginia Beach. Four other people were also shot in the attack, but survived, all with critical injuries and a long road of recovery before them.