UPDATED: 3:19 a.m., June 1 — The death toll has risen after a mass shooting in Virginia Beach municipal building on Friday. A 12th person died from the gun violence that was allegedly perpetrated by DeWayne Craddock, a 40-year-old longtime city worker who was reportedly disgruntled after being fired recently.
The 12th shooting victim reportedly died on the way to the hospital.
The number of injured was reduced from six to four, according to the Associated Press, which reported that one of the people wounded was a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life.
In the meantime, investigators were working to learn more about Craddock.
Original story:
The suspected mass shooter who killed at least 11 people and injured at least six others at a municipal center in Virginia Beach on Friday afternoon was widely identified across social media as DeWayne Craddock. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the gunman was identified as DeWayne Craddock, a 40-year-old Black man who “made multiple firearm purchases in recent weeks.”
“This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said after the shooting. “The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues.”
Cable news outlets described the shooter as being disgruntled and the Wall Street Journal reported that he was a “longtime city employee who had been fired entered a municipal building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday afternoon to exact revenge.”
A web page on the MyLife.com listed information about a Virginia Beach resident named DeWayne Craddock as being 40 years old and having a birthday on Oct. 15, 1978. It lists him as a Black registered Democrat and Christian who is married.
The shooter died in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Heavy.com produced a photo of DeWayne Craddock that showed an image of a Black man.
If it does turn out that Craddock was the gunman, the fact that he is Black would offer a unique narrative surrounding the spate of mass shootings that have been taking place across the U.S. in recent years.
“Statistics show that since 1982, the majority of mass shootings — 54 percent — were committed by white men,” Newsweek reported while citing statistics on mass shootings compiled by Mother Jones. “Black people were the second largest perpetrators of mass shootings based on ethnic background, but only accounted for roughly 16 percent of the total incidents during the same time period.”
That Newsweek report was from 2017, before the Parkland massacre and other public shootings that resulted in mass deaths perpetrated by white males.
Between 1982 and June of last year, 59 of the 101 mass shootings in that time span were launched by white people, according to data provided by Statista, which offers “statistics and studies from more than 22,500 sources.” Black people had the next-highest number of mass shooters at 16.
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