A longtime public utilities employee opened fire on co-workers at a municipal center in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding at least four others…
A longtime public utilities employee opened fire on co-workers at a municipal center in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding at least four others before police fatally shot him in a long gun battle.
Virginia Beach police Chief Jim Cervera said the heavily armed shooter died in an exchange of gunfire with officers who rushed into the building. The gunman was armed with a.45 caliber handgun and he exhausted multiple extended magazines in the onslaught and the gun battle with police, leaving a « war zone » of carnage, spent bullets and empty ammunition casings, Cervera said.
Cervera said the gunman walked into the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shortly after 4 p.m. EDT and « immediately began to indiscriminately fire upon all the victims. » His name has not yet been released.
« The officers stopped this individual from committing more carnage, » Cervera said. The gunman likely would have used all his ammunition on innocent people had the officers not engaged him in the gun battle, forcing him to use up the massive store of ammunition that he brought on his killing mission, the chief said.
Among the wounded: a Virginia Beach Police officer whose life was saved by his bulletproof vest, Cervera said.
Police also say the gunman brought extended ammunition magazines that held more bullets than a typical magazine, suggesting that he wanted as much firepower as possible to inflict damage. He also had a sound suppressor for his handgun.
More: What we know so far about the Virginia Beach shooting
The nation’s latest mass shooting sent alarm and shock throughout Virginia Beach, a popular resort town with a population of 440,000. The municipal center is several miles from the resort areas of the beach, located along the Atlantic Coast about 200 miles south of Washington, D. C. The community is also home to three military bases.
« This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach, » Mayor Bobby Dyer said. « The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbors and colleagues. »
The extent of the injuries to survivors is still unclear. Five patients were being treated at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and a sixth was being transferred to the Trauma Center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Sentara Healthcare tweeted.
« We’re still trying to figure it out, » Dyer said of the victims and their injuries.
