"War Zone":12 Killed in Virginia Beach Shooting at Municipal Center

• 06.01.2019, 10:25
•  America,  World

A longtime public utilities employee opened fire on co-workers at a municipal center in Virginia Beach on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding at least four others before police fatally shot him in a heated gun battle. Virginia Beach police Chief Jim Cervera said the heavily armed shooter died in an exchange of gunfire with four officers who rushed into the building. The gunman was armed with a.45 caliber handgun and he exhausted multiple extended magazines in the onslaught, leaving a "war zone" of carnage, spent bullets and empty ammunition casings, Cervera said.

Cervera said the gunman walked into the Virginia Beach Municipal Center - where up to 400 people work - shortly after 4 p.m. EDT and "immediately began to indiscriminately fire upon all the victims." His name has not yet been released because police said they have been unable to notify his relatives.

"The officers stopped this individual from committing more carnage," Cervera said. The gunman likely would have used all his ammunition on innocent people had the officers not engaged him in the gun battle, forcing him to use up the massive store of ammunition that he brought on his killing mission, the chief said.

Among the wounded: a Virginia Beach Police officer whose life was saved by his bulletproof vest, Cervera said. Police also say the gunman brought extended ammunition magazines that held more bullets than a typical magazine, suggesting that he wanted as much firepower as possible to inflict damage inside the building. He also had a sound suppressor for his handgun. Unlike some states, silencers are legal in Virginia, though it is illegal to have one in Virginia Beach per local ordinance.