A disgruntled public utility employee "indiscriminately" opened fire at the municipal center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, killing 12 people and wounding at least five others before he was killed himself, the city's police chief said.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera gave few details of what was known about the mass shooting in the coastal resort city, but said the gunman "immediately and indiscriminately fired upon all the victims" after he entered the municipal building shortly after 4 p.m.
"The suspect did shoot a police officer. The officers returned fire. The suspect is deceased," Cervera said. He did not make clear whether the gunman took his own life or was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police.
The officer hit was among six people who were injured but survived, but he was saved by his bullet-proof vest, Cervera said.
The shooting was believed to be the deadliest act of workplace gun violence in the United States since February, when a factory worker shot five colleagues to death in Aurora, Illinois, just after he was let go from his job.
The precise circumstances of Friday's shooting remained under investigation, with FBI agents and Homeland Security Department forensic technicians assisting local police due to the "size and scope and intensity" of the crime scene, Cervera said.
The police chief said the suspect was a longtime public utilities employee, and described him as "disgruntled," but declined to say more about what may have precipitated the attack.
The shooting unfolded, according to Cervera, at Building Two of the municipal center complex, a facility which houses the city's public works and utilities next door to City Hall.
Virginia Beach, which sits on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, is the state's most populous city with roughly 450,000 year-round residents.
"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dyer said at a news conference with the police chief. "The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues."
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement he was devastated by the "unspeakable, senseless violence," and is offering the state's full support to survivors and relatives of the victims. The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.
Megan Banton, an administrative assistant who works in the building where the shooting happened, said she heard gunshots, called 911 and barricaded herself and about 20 colleagues inside an office, pushing a desk against a door.
"We tried to do everything we could to keep everybody safe," she said. "We were all just terrified. It felt like it wasn't real, like we were in a dream. You are just terrified because all you can hear is the gunshots."
She texted her mom, telling her that there was an active shooter in the building and she and others were waiting for police.
"Thank God my baby is OK," Banton's mother, Dana Showers, said.
Outside the school, Cheryl Benn, 65, waited while her husband, David, a traffic engineer with the city who was in the building where the shooting happened, gave a written statement to detectives.
She said her husband initially called her from a barricaded room and said it sounded as if someone had been working with a nail gun. Then he saw the bodies.
"This is unbelievable for Virginia Beach," Cheryl Benn said. "Nothing like this happens in Virginia Beach. By and large, it's a pretty calm and peaceful place to live."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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