Virginia Beach shooter had security pass
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Latest on the shooting in Virginia Beach (all times local):
9:20 a.m.
Authorities in Virginia would not say whether the man believed to have opened fire on co-workers at a city municipal building was facing any sort of disciplinary action related to his employment.
Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen said at a press conference Saturday that DeWayne Craddock had been employed by the city for 15 years as an engineer.
Hansen said Craddock was still employed at the time of the shooting Friday afternoon and possessed a security pass that allowed him access to nonpublic areas of the municipal building.
Neither Hansen nor Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera would comment on whether Craddock was facing disciplinary or termination proceedings at the time of the shooting.
Some 11 city employees and one contractor were killed in the shooting. Craddock was killed in the ensuing gunbattle with police. One police officer was hurt but was expected to recover.
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9:05 a.m.
Police say they have recovered “additional weapons” that were in the possession of the suspect believed to have shot and killed 12 people during a rampage at a municipal building in Virginia.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said at a news conference Saturday that the weapons were recovered at the scene as well as at the home of the suspect, identified as DeWayne Craddock.
Earlier, Cervera had said that the suspect used a .45-caliber handgun with a suppressor in the killings. Unlike some states, silencers are legal in Virginia, though it is illegal to have one in Virginia Beach per local ordinance.
Authorities say Craddock stormed the building and opened fire Friday afternoon at the city building before he was killed in a gunbattle with police.
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8:35 a.m.
Officials have identified the gunman who killed 12 people and then was shot by officers at a Virginia Beach municipal building as Dewayne Craddock.
Authorities used a Saturday morning news conference to focus on the victims. They projected photos on a screen and gave each victim’s name along with biographical details.
City manager Dave Hansen says 11 of the 12 victims were employees of the city. He says families of the victims have been notified. He says he’d worked with most of them for many years, and they “leave a void that we will never be able to fill.”
Officials identified Craddock for the first time after talking about the victims. They say they will name Craddock only once, then will not refer to him again.
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1:30 a.m.
Authorities say a longtime city employee wielding a .45-caliber handgun with a suppressor fatally shot 12 people on three floors of a municipal building in Virginia Beach before police shot him.
Four other people were wounded in Friday’s shooting, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life.
Police Chief James Cervera says the suspect engaged in a “long gunbattle” with law enforcement officers. He says officers gave the suspect first aid after he was shot, but he died.
Cervera said Friday that he would release the suspect’s name after authorities had contacted his family, but would mention the name only once.
He said after that, “he will be forever referred to as the suspect because our focus now is the dignity and respect to the victims in this case and to their families.”
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Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Washington, D.C.; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; and Tom Foreman Jr. in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
