12 Killed in Virginia Beach Shooting

by TMO Staff

Another American shooting leaves citizens shocked as 12 are killed in a shooting at a municipal building in the Virginia Beach Princess Anne area June 2. According to the Mass Shooting Tracker data, it was the 171 mass shooting incident as of this year.

Although many details regarding the shooting emerged the weekend following, not all questions were answered and resolved.

DeWayne Craddock, an engineer for Virginia Beach’s municipal government, open fired at a municipal building Friday afternoon killing 12 and injuring 4 others, the Virginia Beach Police reported. The forty-year-old shooter was then fatally wounded in a shootout with the police.

According to the National Post, Police Chief James A. Cervera announced that the investigation regarding the gunman’s motives will still continue.

Reports say that Craddock’s professional and personal life do not suggest or even hint towards a reason or motive. “We do not have anything glaring,” Cervera said.

Craddock emailed a letter of resignation from his job Friday morning, City Manager Dave Hansen told the New York Times at a news conference.

Officials later released Craddock’s letter that was sent hours before the shooting that killed and injured his colleagues. Yet, the letter, news reports say, gives no clue to what steered him to carry out the shooting.

“I want to officially put in my (2) weeks’ notice to vacant (sic) my position of Engineer III with the City of Virginia Beach,” the letter read.

“It has been a pleasure to serve the City, but due to personal reasons I must relieve my position.”

Hansen told the New York Times that officials will examine Craddock’s relationship with coworkers further, yet he does not sense concern or misgiving there.

While the identification of the gunman has been confirmed, the question of why the gunman committed the massacre remains as investigations continue. Craddock’s family has publically apologized to the victim’s and their families and do not condone such violence.