Man charged with opening fire at federal building dies
Case will be dropped against Chesapeake suspect who allegedly shot security guard
Them an who shot a security guard last month while attacking the Social Security Administration building in Norfolk died Wednesday in a local hospital, federal prosecutors said.
As a result, prosecutors said Thursday they were dropping their case against William Rankin. He had been charged with attempted murder and assault in connection with the shooting, as well as two weapons charges.
The attack happened Feb. 8 in the Social Security building at 5850 Herbert Drive. In the court filing, FBI Agent Special Agent Justin Goodrich gave the following account of what happened that day:
Rankin entered the building around 3:30 p.m. with a rifle bag slung over his left shoulder. A security guard approached Rankin and told him that, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the building was closed; he needed to call the phone number listed on the front door.
Rankin told the guard he was there because he wanted his mother’s money. The guard said Rankin still needed to call the number listed on the door.
Rankin then pulled a .380-caliber pistol and told the guard he wasn’t leaving without the money. The guard tried to keep Rankin calm. But Rankin became more agitated and demanded the guard unholster his gun and put it on the ground. The guard refused.
So Rankin fired at least five rounds at the guard, hitting him in the left arm, left shoulder, left upper chest, the lower abdomen and both legs.
A bulletproof vest saved the security guard from the shots to his chest and abdomen.
After firing, Rankin turned and started to move to the front door, at which point the security guard drew his weapon and shot Rankin several times. Despite his injuries, the guard was able to get into an elevator, go to the second floor and tell others he’d been shot and to call 911. He then went back downstairs and watched Rankin until backup arrived.
Paramedics took both men to the hospital. Doctors expect the security guard to fully recover. Norfolk police reported that Rankin had life-threatening injuries but did not respond to several attempts to get an update on his condition in the days after the shooting.
Law enforcement found a 9mm Hi Point rifle and roughly 600 rounds of ammo in his rifle bag, including nine boxes of 9mm bullets and three fully-loaded extended 9mm magazines. Officers searched Rankin’s Chesapeake home and interviewed his wife, who told them about his struggle to get Social Security benefits for his mother.
About 150 people, including 68 federal employees, normally work in the Social Security Administration building, according to a news release sent out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, most of those 150 people were not in the building when Rankin started shooting.