DeWayne Craddock, an engineer who had worked for the City of Virginia Beach for about 15 years, notified his superiors Friday that he intended to quit.
Then around 4 p.m., he embarked on a rampage in Building No. 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, turning its offices and corridors into a battleground. When it was over, 12 people lay dead and Craddock was fatally wounded.
As authorities Sunday shared a more detailed accounting of the siege, they also acknowledged for the first time that the gunman’s employment had been nearing its end. But they said he had not been forced to resign.
James A. Cervera, the police chief in Virginia Beach, said investigators were focused on establishing what Craddock’s motives were and whether his job status “had anything to do with the horrific acts and events that he perpetrated.”
At a news conference Sunday, Cervera offered a chilling timeline of what happened in Building No. 2, the stately 1970s-vintage brick structure where Craddock opened fire on three floors and where a small team of police officers rushed to confront an employee who had become an assailant.
The first urgent calls, the chief said, were received at 4:08 p.m., and less than two minutes later officers were outside the building, which over the years had become what he called a “honeycomb” of rooms and passageways. There was no time to consult a blueprint, no time to map out a strategy. They had to find the gunman.
By 4:18 p.m., the chief said, the officers had located Craddock, a 40-year-old former soldier who was armed with two handguns and plenty of ammunition.
A gunbattle began.
Craddock moved through the building, exchanging shots with the officers, including one who was wounded about 4:19 p.m. Precisely how many rounds the gunman fired is not yet known, Cervera said Sunday, but “it was well into the double digits.”
“At one point, the suspect was firing through the door, through the wall at the officers,” the chief said. “And then the firing stopped.”
Craddock had barricaded himself in a room. The officers, the chief said, were worried about an escape and another burst of violence, and made plans to breach the door.
“That’s not an easy decision to make: There’s an individual on the other side of the door, he has a gun, he just shot one of your officers,” he said.
They broke in and found Craddock alive but seriously wounded. Cervera said the officers tried to save his life, but he died later.
As the police cleared the building, some of the workers who escaped injury had to navigate what city officials described as a “horrific” scene.
Eleven city workers were killed in the rampage, one of the deadliest episodes of workplace violence in the United States in recent years. The employees, who had collectively worked for the Virginia Beach government for more than 150 years, were LaQuita Brown; Ryan Keith Cox; Tara Welch Gallagher; Mary Louise Gayle; Alexander Mikhail Gusev; Joshua O. Hardy; Michelle Langer, known as Missy; Richard H. Nettleton; Katherine A. Nixon; Christopher Kelly Rapp; and Robert Williams.
Herbert Snelling, a contractor who was at the municipal center to see about a permit, also was killed.
Local hospitals said Sunday that four people who were injured in the attack were in critical condition. One patient who had been listed in fair condition “had additional surgery and is critical during recovery,” Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital said in a statement.
On Princess Anne Road, near the municipal complex, passing drivers were slowing down to gaze at a growing memorial to the victims, a collection of flowers, cards, balloons and American flags. A set of crosses was installed in the afternoon. A few hundred yards away, FBI agents were processing evidence from Building No. 2, which was still ringed with crime-scene tape.
Much about Craddock, an engineer who had worked on projects like sewer pipelines and pump station replacements, remained unclear. Members of his family have declined to speak publicly, but expressed their condolences to victims of the attack and their loved ones in a handwritten statement posted on the door of a family home.
Although the gunman’s state of mind at the time of the killings remains a mystery, local law enforcement officials involved with the case believe Craddock had recently “snapped,” according to three city officials.
In the middle of the rampage, Terry Inman, who worked with Craddock in the public utilities office, was trying to find a way out of the second floor of the building when he ran into the gunman, who had his weapon pointed downward.
Inman said he asked Craddock: “What are you doing? Stop it, DeWayne!”
Craddock responded with a blank stare and, after a moment, turned around and walked away without firing, Inman said. Deeply shaken by the encounter, Inman then sought safety on an upper floor.
David L. Hansen, the city manager, said at the news conference Sunday morning that Craddock’s performance in his city job had been “satisfactory, and he was in good standing in his department.” Hansen said that officials were continuing to examine whether co-workers had raised concerns about Craddock, but added that he was “not sensing that” there had been misgivings about him.
Prodded by questions a few minutes later, Hansen acknowledged that Craddock had notified the city on Friday morning of his intention to resign. Asked whether Craddock’s email had cited a reason for his resignation, Hansen said, “We are determining where that letter is.” But he said he did not believe the resignation was connected with any decision about Craddock’s future position in the government.
Building No. 2 will remain closed indefinitely, Hansen said. The rest of the municipal center, a sprawling complex of more than two dozen buildings, is expected to reopen Tuesday.
“Our recovery is underway,” Hansen said. “Our grieving is underway.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.