Officials have identified the gunman who killed 12 people and then was shot by officers at a Virginia Beach municipal building as 40-year-old Dewayne Craddock.
Dewayne Craddock of Virginia Beach was a “disgruntled employee” hell-bent on revenge, news reports from NBC12 said.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera identified the gunman as DeWayne Craddock, who was employed as an engineer with the city’s public utilities department for 15 years. Craddock died in a gun battle with police. Cervera declined to comment on a motive.
According to reports, Craddock’s title was “certified professional engineer for the city of Virginia Beach in the Public Utilities Department.”
A Virginia Beach police officer who was shot and “saved by his vest,” said shortly after 4 p.m. on May 31, 2019, the suspect, a long-time public utilities employee, entered and began to “indiscriminately fire on all the victims,” the chief said. He was a “current employee,” and the shooting occurred over multiple floors, said the chief.
Craddock made “multiple” firearms purchases in recent weeks, The Wall Street Journal reports. A search of online court records for Virginia Beach did not turn up any criminal cases for Craddock. No obvious social media sites were apparent for him. According to CNN, law enforcement sources say Craddock legally purchased the weapons.
Authorities also held a 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.
Among the victims, Laquita C. Brown from Chesapeake, who worked for over four years as Right-of-Way Agent. Mary Louise Gayle, a resident of Virginia Beach, served as a Right-of-Way agent for over 24 years and Alexander Mikhail Gusev, also from Virginia Beach, shared the same title for 9 years.
Tara Welch Gallagher, from Virginia Beach, worked as an engineer for six years.
Engineer Christopher Kelly Rapp had only been with the Public Works for 11 months at the time of his death.
Katherine A Nixon, an engineer for 10 years and Richard H. Nettleton, an engineer for 28 years, were two Public Utilities employees that were also killed.
Ryan Keith Cox worked as an account clerk in the same division for almost 13 years.
Joshua A Hardy, also with Public Utilities, served as an engineering technician for over four years.
Michelle Langer, or Missy as she was known by coworkers, was an administrative assistant with the Public Utilities division for 12 years.
The longest-serving employee who was killed in Friday’s shooting was Robert “Bobby” Williams who worked as a Public Utilities Special Projects Coordinator for 41 years.
Police identified the final victim – who was not a city employee – as Herbert Snelling, a contractor from Virginia Beach. (Via: Fox News)
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