Virginia Beach gunman’s motive remains a mystery
‘A regular workday’ ended in a massacre
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The longtime Virginia Beach public works employee accused of the nation’s latest mass shooting put in his two weeks’ notice Friday morning, hours before the attack that killed 12 and wounded four, city officials said Sunday.
Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen said DeWayne Craddock’s performance at work was “satisfac
tory,” he did not face any disciplinary measures before he notified the city that he intended to quit, and he was not fired.
“He was in good standing within his department,” Hansen said.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera said the gunman’s motive is a mystery – a question that may never be answered. Craddock died after the shooting.
“Right now, we’re open to everything on his motive. We haven’t focused in on any one thing,” he said. “You have a professional life, you have a personal life. Is it something that happened in his personal life? Is it something long-term that happened in his personal life?”
Cervera said investigators are looking at everything from his electronic trail and finances to his resignation and relationship with co-workers. He said nothing has stuck out that could explain why the gunman snapped.
Authorities worked to put all the pieces together and track the shooter’s exact movements Friday to see whether there were any signs. But, Cervera said, “anecdotally, what I’m hearing is it was a regular workday.”
Four shooting survivors were recovering Sunday at two hospitals. One at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital was downgraded from fair to critical condition, and two others there remained in critical condition. A fourth victim was critical but stable at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, which handles higher-level trauma cases.
Sunday, residents of this resort town about 200 miles south of Washington flocked to churches as they grappled with the horrific attack. At Lifehouse Virginia Beach, Pastor Brandon Shank’s praise for the police response received rounds of applause. He assured congregants the rampage would not define the Virginia Beach community and called for unity. “What took place in this city is not who we are,” Shank said.
Craddock was described by police and those who knew him as an enigma who gave no indication that he stockpiled an arsenal and planned a systematic assault on his colleagues. A 15-year veteran of public works and a civil engineer, he was still employed and had a
“Right now, we’re open to everything on his motive. We haven’t focused in on any one thing.” Jim Cervera Virginia Beach police chief
pass to enter the secure inner offices and conference rooms.
Police arrived two minutes after emergency calls about shots fired at Virginia Beach’s municipal building No. 2 at 4:08 p.m., Cervera said Sunday.
He described the three-story municipal building with a basement as a “honeycomb,” a maze of doors, stairwells and offices. In a chaotic scenario, four officers scoured the building, searching for the shooter. They discovered him on the second floor and engaged him in a gunbattle. The suspect fired through an office door and wall toward the officers before the gunfire stopped, Cervera said.
That’s when officers decided to enter the office and engage the shooter. “That’s not an easy decision to make,” Cervera said. “There’s an individual on the other side of the door. He has a gun. He just shot one of your officers.”
Police found Craddock alive but wounded and began administering first aid. He died en route to the hospital.
Cervera said the shooter used a .45caliber handgun with a silencer that police suspect was used to keep victims from knowing where the attacker was in the building. That could explain why survivors said they were caught off guard. One described hearing something that sounded like a nail gun. The attacker brought numerous extended magazines, which carry more rounds than traditional ones.
“Clearly this was an individual who did understand and have experience with firearms and had given potentially some forethought into the advantage that using a suppressor would offer him, particularly the suppressor coupled with the caliber of weapon he was using,” said Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association and a retired officer with the Colorado Springs Police Department, where he oversaw a SWAT division.
The image of a public works employee holed up with a silencer and extended magazines engaged in a merciless assault is a far cry from how Craddock’s neighbors saw him.
They described Craddock as a car enthusiast, bodybuilder and quiet man.
Amanda Archer, 22, and Cassetty Howerin, 23, lived in a Virginia Beach town home beneath Craddock for the past year and got to know him only in passing, exchanging the occasional greeting.
“He wasn’t much of a talker,” Archer recalled. “He’s a mystery to us. He’s a mystery to everybody, apparently.”