11 People Killed, At Least 6 Wounded In Virginia Beach Mass Shooting

By Lauren Rearick


At least 11 people were killed and six more were wounded in a shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on Friday, May 31, WAVY-TV reported. According to The Virginian-Pilot, the perpetrator, who police confirmed was a city employee, was killed soon after firing at police.


Shortly immediately after 4 p.M. On Friday, police responded to reports of a shooting in Building 2 of the municipal center, CNN reports. (According to NBC News, that building houses a mailroom, along with because the city’s public works department and public utilities department.) In a statement to The Virginian-Pilot, one witness to the shooting described hearing “repeated, rapid gunfire.”


One officer was reportedly hit by gunfire and is among the injured; the officer was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, CNN notes.


In a beginning news conference after the shooting, Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer called it the “most devastating day in the past of Virginia Beach,” the Virginian-Pilot reported. “The people involved are our companions, co-workers, neighbors and colleagues.” Virginia Beach police are expected to hold another news conference at 9:30 p.M.


President Donald Trump had reportedly been briefed about the shooting, CNN reported; officials from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and Virginia State Police were expected to help arrive and aid in the investigation.


The attack is the deadliest mass shooting to ever occur in Virginia Beach, the Virginian-Pilot announced. As CNN notes, the attack is the deadliest act of gun violence is the United States in 2019. The last largest mass shooting occurred in a November 2018 at Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, where 12 people were killed that night. There have been repeated instances of gun violence across the nation since then, yet little demonstrable action from politicians to pass any meaningful gun control legislation.