Police identify Virginia Beach shooter, 12th victim dies

UPDATE: Police identified the gunman who killed 12 people and wounded four in Friday’s shooting at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, Va., as DeWayne Craddock, 40, an engineer who served in the military and worked for the city’s public utilities department for 15 years. Craddock, who was armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a suppressor, died after what was described by Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera as a long gun battle with four officers. Police recovered other weapons belonging to the shooter at the scene and at his home. Cervera declined to comment on a motive.

Cervera said a 12th victim of the shooting died Friday night on the way to a hospital. Victims were found on three floors of the Virginia Beach Municipal Building, and one victim was shot in a car outside the building. Eleven of the dead worked for the city, and the other victim was a contractor applying for a permit.

The 11 city employees who died were identified as Laquita C. Brown of Chesapeake, Tara Welch Gallager of Virginia Beach, Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach, Alexander Mikhail Gusev of Virginia Beach, Katherine A. Nixon of Virginia Beach, Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk, Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan, Ryan Keith Cox of Virginia Beach, Joshua A. Hardy of Virginia Beach, Michelle “Missy” Langer of Virginia Beach, and Robert “Bobby” Williams of Chesapeake. The contractor was Herbert “Bert” Snelling of Virginia Beach.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (05/31/19, 7:42 p.m.): Police in Virginia Beach, Va., said 12 people are dead, including the gunman, and six others injured Friday afternoon in a mass shooting at a municipal building in the coastal city near Norfolk. A gunman shot “indiscriminately” at workers inside the Virginia Beach Municipal Building, according to Police Chief James Cervera. Police shot and killed the suspect, who Cervera said was a longtime employee of the Public Utilities Department. Police have yet to release the gunman’s name.

Sentara Virginia Beach Hospital reports that five of the injured are receiving treatment there, while another patient was transferred to the trauma center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. A police officer who was wearing a ballistic vest that saved his life was among the injured.

“This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said. “The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbor, colleagues.”