Virginia gunman used ammo extenders
The gunman who killed 12 people at a Virginia Beach municipal building before dying in a shootout with police was identified as a disgruntled city engineer and co-worker of most of the victims.
DeWayne Craddock, 40, had worked for the city’s public utilities department for about 15 years and had no serious criminal record, Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said.
He served in the Virginia National Guard from 1996 to 2002, and was assigned to a Norfolk-based battalion as a cannon crew member.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam added: “These are 12 individuals who came to work ... thinking they would go home in the evening, and they didn’t return and it left a tremendous void in their families and in our community.”
Bodies were found on all three floors of the Virginia Beach building and in a car parked outside.
Cervera described the crime scene as “horrific” and said that investigators who spent the night inside the building endured a “physical, emotional and psychological toll.”
Police said the gunman was armed with two .45 caliber pistols and used an employee pass to enter secure areas before firing “immediately and indiscriminately” on victims while reloading with multiple extended ammunition magazines.
At least one of the pistols was fitted with a “sound suppressor,” police said. Both handguns were bought legally by the shooter within the last three years, Ashan Benedict, a special agent at the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said.
After the attack began, two police supervisors from a building across the street arrived within minutes, Cervera said, and they were quickly joined by two police dog-handlers. The suspect was killed after a lengthy gun battle.
The victims who worked for Virginia Beach had been employed for between 11 months and 41 years. A number of vigils and commemorations are planned.