11 p.m. The suspect lived in a condominium off Witchduck Road, which police raided Friday night. He was known as a quiet person who kept to himself. A neighbor of the suspect, Cassetty Howerin, who spoke with WAVY’s Andy Fox and said she never imagined he would do something like that.

10:08 p.m. — Sentara officials say four injured victims from today’s shooting are still in the hospital. Three patients are at Sentara Virginia Beach General, with two in critical condition and one in fair condition. Another victim who was taken to Norfolk General is still in critical condition. They say another patient checked themselves into Sentara Princess Anne, but was released from the emergency department Friday night.

The suspect, who was a Virginia Beach city employee with access to the building, was reloading his weapon, a .45 caliber handgun with a suppressor and an extended magazine, when he shot following a gun battle with police. Cervera said authorities are in the process of identifying victims so they can make notifications to their families. He said police received the initial call for the shooting shortly after 4 p.m.

@Bernie Sanders
Jane and I are grieving for the victims in Virginia Beach and their families.

The days of the NRA controlling Congress and writing our gun laws must end. Congress must listen to the American people and pass gun safety legislation. This sickening gun violence must stop.

wpkato wrote:No. From what I heard it was a city center building where you would obtain permits, pay bills etc. They had no security presence with metal detectors at the entrance.

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Gun-Free Zones
Gun-free zones include areas, like schools, hospitals, and government buildings like courthouses and city halls. These are places where a person, if they are not law enforcement or have been told they can bring a gun, cannot possess a firearm in Virginia Beach.
Depending on where the gun was brought, penalties for bringing a gun to a gun-free zone can be anywhere from a class one misdemeanor to a class six felony. Class one misdemeanors are up to 12 months in prison. Class six felonies are up to five years in prison.

BKinzey wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 1:41 pmOnce they found out the shooter's name, they mentioned it at least 3 times in about 15 minutes.

A Virginia bill designed to ban sales of large-capacity magazines similar to those used by the Virginia Beach gunman died in committee in January on a party-line vote.

The fate of the legislation, SB1748, was so widely expected that the outcome drew virtually no public attention. For more than 20 years, Republicans and a few rural Democrats in the General Assembly have killed almost every measure aimed at restricting gun ownership.

The GOP blocked a major push for gun control after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, where 33 people died. They chose instead to respond to that shooting by joining Democrats to enact mental-health reforms.

But details of the rampage include one fact unique to the growing list of active-shooter cases: the assailant used a .45-caliber handgun with extended magazines and a barrel suppressor. This small detail — that the loaded gun was fitted with simple, and lawful, “silencing” equipment — threatens to upend how we understand and train for active-shooter cases in the future.

Q The suspect in the Virginia Beach shooting used a silencer on his weapon. Do you believe that silencers should be restricted?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t like them at all.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday he will summon lawmakers back to the state Capitol to consider a package of gun-control legislation, saying last week's mass shooting in Virginia Beach calls for "votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers."

Northam, a Democrat confronted with a Republican-controlled General Assembly in the middle of an election year, also said he wants every legislator to go on record for or against his proposals during the special session this summer, rather than avoid tough votes by quietly killing the bills in subcommittees.

"The nation will be watching," the governor said, four days after Virginia Beach employee DeWayne Craddock used two semiautomatic handguns, a silencer and extended ammunition magazines to slaughter 12 people at a municipal building. Craddock was then killed in a gun battle with police.

Northam's bills include a ban on silencers and high-capacity magazines, as well as a broadening of local governments’ ability to limit guns in city buildings. The governor said he also wants mandatory, universal background checks before gun purchases; a limit of one handgun purchase per month; and a "red flag" law that would allow authorities to seize the weapons of those who are a threat to themselves or others.

"I will be asking for votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers," he said.

In a statement, GOP Speaker Kirk Cox dismissed the governor's call for a special session as "hasty and suspect when considered against the backdrop of the last few months" — a reference to the blackface-photo scandal that nearly destroyed Northam's career.

Cox said the Republicans will instead put forward legislation to toughen penalties — including new, mandatory minimum sentences — for those who use guns to commit crimes.

"We believe addressing gun violence starts with holding criminals accountable for their actions, not infringing on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens," Cox said.

Another top Republican, Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, indicated some willingness to debate a ban on large-capacity magazines, according to the Virginia Gazette, but told gun-control advocates outside his office that "nothing would have helped us in Virginia Beach."

Virginia is generally considered a very gun-friendly state and is home to the National Rifle Assn.'s headquarters.

After the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which a student with a history of mental problems shot 32 people to death, the state passed a law prohibiting people adjudicated as seriously mentally ill from buying a gun. But a push at the time for universal background checks failed.

Most of the other legislation proposed this time also fell short before in Virginia, where Republicans hold slim majorities in the House and Senate. All 140 legislative seats are up for grabs this year, and Democrats are thought to have a realistic chance of taking back control of the General Assembly.

Northam got a standing ovation from gun-control advocates, state workers and elected officials as he said the massacre in Virginia Beach demands that lawmakers put saving lives ahead of party loyalty.

Noting that first responders saved lives in last week's attack, he said: "Now, I'm calling on the elected officials of this commonwealth to become second responders. Your duty is clear: Rush to the scene and put a stop to this violence."

"Show Virginians that it doesn't matter what party you are in, we all are Virginians first, and we care about the safety and security of every Virginian," he added.

The governor has long advocated stricter gun control and gets an F grade from the NRA. He made the issue a top priority of his 2017 campaign, drawing from his experience as a pediatrician and Army doctor who has treated children and soldiers wounded by gunfire.

Craddock appeared to have had no felony record and is believed to have legally purchased his two .45-caliber pistols, authorities said.

Friday's shooting has been Northam's first major test since a scandal over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook nearly drove him from office four months ago. Northam denied that he was in the picture of someone in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.

A top gun-rights advocate, Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, denounced the special session as "political theater" and said the answer is to make it easier for people to carry weapons.

"There's really nothing other than allowing people to protect themselves until the police get there that would have worked," he said.

Three years ago, Vincent Smith started an online petition asking Virginia Beach leaders to let properly-licensed city employees carry guns to work for protection. The effort on change.org gained about 260 signatures then.

This weekend, still reeling from the May 31 mass shooting at the Princess Anne municipal complex, Smith reactivated his push. By Monday afternoon, about 500 new people had signed on to support the idea. Some even said they worked in Building 2, where a city employee opened fire and killed 12 people before police fatally shot him. Smith, a public works engineer who has worked for the city for five years, said he had crossed paths with all who died.

"As time goes by, it gets harder," said Smith, who had an office in Building 2 but was not inside at the time of the shooting. City policy bars employees from bringing guns to work, but state law prevents municipalities from restricting weapons in most municipal buildings. The General Assembly will hold a special session next month to tackle gun legislation. State Del. Kelly Fowler of Virginia Beach has raised the possibility of allowing cities to control who carries weapons into municipal buildings.

On Monday, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said he wanted to ban people from carrying weapons in city-owned buildings or parks. Last week, Virginia Beach City Council members Sabrina Wooten and Guy Tower tried unsuccessfully to gain support for a similar proposal. Some speakers at that council meeting feared that if everyone was allowed to bring in a weapon, it would be harder to discern who was there to do harm. Leaders should strive to create a work environment in which employees feel safe so they don't need to bring a weapon, Wooten said. "The workplace is a place of work — not a war zone or place of confusion," she said.

Smith, 49, said he has been around guns for more than 40 years and has a concealed carry permit. His experience is that people become more responsible when they carry weapons. Still, Smith does not support every city employee bringing a gun to work. He suggested that those who want one must pass a vetting process more stringent than the one for obtaining a concealed carry permit. Smith says he shares common ground with Wooten and Tower: They all want city employees to be safer. They simply disagree on the best approach.

The answer is a serious conversation where city employees and leaders come together, Smith said. "A genuine look at the issue and what we can do that's a better solution," he said.