VA - 12 Dead including shooter, VA Beach Municipal Center, 31 May 2019

[K_Z]

IMO, the msm is even reluctant now to use adjectives such as "deranged" or "murderous" when describing shooters, UNTIL they can determine whether or not the shooter belongs to some kind of protected identity group. Not too long ago, reporters were horrified at such kind of violence, and said so, with lots of emphatic adjectives in their writing to convey the appalling crime.

Now the media must tread oh so carefully, so as not to offend anyone by criticizing mass murderers, until it's determined if the murderer/s are a member of a so called "protected" identity group that "snapped" because they were "bullied".

 

[Sweetsbeach]

It's a somber day here in VB. My partner left his job working in IT for the city of Virginia Beach a little over a month ago. I was against him leaving but now I'm grateful. I'm so glad Chief Cervera has made it clear, the 12 victims should be the focus of attention not "the suspect."

 

[Elley Mae]

And next we might be hearing an inference from "ripped", "jacked" and "works out" that maybe he was on steroids. Between things like this and the false rumor of his being fired (on CNN) and his military experience I can see the possibility for more media stories. And I haven't even touched the fact that you point out that the weapons "information" came out before his name.

In reference to weapons one he used he bought in 2016 and 2018, that is not resent to me.

 

[Elley Mae]

"He was still employed," Hansen said of Craddock, clarifying earlier reports that the suspect had been fired. "He had a security pass like all employees have and he was authorized to enter that building."

Craddock enlisted in the Virginia National Guard in April 1996 and served for 17 years, Cotton Puryear, a spokesman for the Virginia National Guard told ABC News. Craddock had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment as a cannon crew member, but his records indicate he was never deployed overseas.

Gunman used security pass, two .45-caliber wung to access kill colleagues: Police

 

[JnRyan]

In reference to weapons one he used he bought in 2016 and 2018, that is not resent to me.

And I've been seeing reports in the media that his weapon purchases were in last month or so. Interesting.

 

[JnRyan]

"He was still employed," Hansen said of Craddock, clarifying earlier reports that the suspect had been fired. "He had a security pass like all employees have and he was authorized to enter that building."

Craddock enlisted in the Virginia National Guard in April 1996 and served for 17 years, Cotton Puryear, a spokesman for the Virginia National Guard told ABC News. Craddock had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment as a cannon crew member, but his records indicate he was never deployed overseas.

Gunman used security pass, two .45-caliber wung to access kill colleagues: Police

When I heard he received his advanced training at Ft. Sill, I thought of two fields, artillery and explosive ordnance handling/storage. He didn't stay for 20 years, the usual minimum for a reserve/NG retirement. 3 years short. I wonder why.

 

[gtbkloretta]

The insidiousness of "suppressing" the information about shooters absolutely insures that the focus in the media is on the weapons used. Any any background even tangentially related to weapons purchase, training, or possession is
thighlighted by msm. The weapons are the focus going forward, NOT the murderous shooter, which IMO, is an intentional ideological ploy of the msm.

It's a useless tactic, IMO, that pretends to dissuade copycat shooting sprees. No spree shooter was ever dissuaded from shooting because the thought they wouldn't get "enough" publicity. Worse yet, IMO, suppressing information about shooters minimizes their social/ antisocial/ mental health issues. It PROTECTS the privacy of the shooter, over the victims.

So if media and LE won't talk openly about the shooters in these cases,, who they are, social/ antisocial / mental health issues, WHY they carried out a mass shooting, what's left to demonize? See how that works.

I agree that not discussing the shooter is not productive but it's not the media that has driven that approach. Viewers have long accused msm of focusing on and in turn glorifying shooters and ignoring victims. The public now demands that the focus be on the victims. It is just as unproductive, imo, to declare something as "evil". Once something is viewed as evil it becomes an inevitable occurrence and something we can never understand. Imo, it is imperative that we continue to look at factors that contribute to a person's ability to engage in horrible crimes. Monsters don't exist but really screwed up human beings do exist and we CAN do better when it comes to understanding human behavior and what makes someone get to this point......

 

[gtbkloretta]

We still have very little understanding of how our brains work but we know there are specific areas of the brain that manage things like impulse control, aggression, appropriate behavior, rage, etc. It's so hard for most of us to understand such a lack of control but clearly they're brains are not functioning like they are supposed to. I envision a day when we will be able to manage flaws in the brains functioning....a tweak, so to speak....lol

 

[K_Z]

^^^I agree that the media and the public don't want shooters "glorified".

But my whole point is that they don't want them criticized, either, because of the outsized divisive influence of identity politics-- dividing people into ever smaller victim/identity groups. We must accept that the motive of the shooter is always "murky". Or else attribute it to undiagnosed mental illness. "No matter how hard we try, we can never understand why someone would carry out a massacre".

Because any other criticism directed at the shooter is deemed too volatile for discussion. It's a toxic form of political correctness.

I reject that philosophy, "we can never understand evil so let's not name them to encourage copycats". I think it's absolutely essential to discuss the "why" and the social/ antisocial/ mental health situation of every mass shooter. That is the only way we can be pro-active, IMO. The reason behind why people do this is the PEOPLE who do this.

Obscuring the murderous perpetrators only perpetuates an illogical, non-factual way of thinking, IMO.

 

[K_Z]

When I heard he received his advanced training at Ft. Sill, I thought of two fields, artillery and explosive ordnance handling/storage. He didn't stay for 20 years, the usual minimum for a reserve/NG retirement. 3 years short. I wonder why.

All 17 of those years were likely not "good" years for retirement. Probably didn't have enough points to retire in 3 years, and he was only 40, so another decade or so of pretty low wage weekend drill national guard duty may not have been attractive to him, for a small pension after age 65. Or maybe he converted his years into government service equivalents to get more government retirement ("buy out"). Or maybe he had an injury. Who knows.

As an example, a former military person can buy out their years of service if they are currently, for example, VA employees-- to get a higher pension, when their military years alone aren't enough for a pension. The buy out rate is different for every person, based on rank, years of service, government job, etc. (Active duty 20+ years gets their retirement immediately regardless of age; reservists have to wait to age 65+ regardless of what age they retire, after 20 "good" years of points/ service.)

 

[gtbkloretta]

I'm not a passenger on the anti-msm train. We all have a world of info at our fingertips and it's our responsibility to sort through it all. Every media site, whether msm or not, does what it needs to to attract viewers and readers.

 

[Bugurl747]

"He was still employed," Hansen said of Craddock, clarifying earlier reports that the suspect had been fired. "He had a security pass like all employees have and he was authorized to enter that building."

Craddock enlisted in the Virginia National Guard in April 1996 and served for 17 years, Cotton Puryear, a spokesman for the Virginia National Guard told ABC News. Craddock had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment as a cannon crew member, but his records indicate he was never deployed overseas.

Gunman used security pass, two .45-caliber wung to access kill colleagues: Police

Initially, articles stated he had been fired. Then there was an account shared by a coworker about him talking to Craddock in the bathroom while he brushed his teeth..

Do we have a motive uncovered at this point?

 

[Bugurl747]

(From top left, Laquita C. Brown, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Richard H. Nettleton, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Katherine A. Nixon, Ryan Keith Cox, Michelle Langer, Joshua A. Hardy, Robert Williams, and Herbert Snelling./Photos provided by City of Virginia Beach)

Thank you for posting this. I'm glad we are focusing on the victims, their story, their loved ones, the community.

I sat here earlier today and looked at this photo for a while. So many families heartbroken, trying to make sense of this madness.

This could have happened to any one of us. These people woke up, went to work, and were senselessly murdered by their coworker. It is devastating looking at their photos, looking into their eyes...seeing their smiles and all along this was their fate. Too soon.

MOO

 

[Bugurl747]

Rbbm.
DeWayne Craddock: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com
"Here are the deceased victims names. They are of all ages, all ethnicities, and genders.

“I have worked with most of them for many years,” said Dave Hansen, Virginia Beach City Manager. “We want you to know who they were so in the weeks to come you will learn what they meant to all of us, to their friends, to their families, and to their co-workers. They leave a void that we will never be able to fill.”

Laquita C. Brown worked in public works for 4.5 years, as a right of way agent. She was from Chesapeake.

Tara Welch Gallagher worked in public works for 6 years, and was an engineer from Virginia Beach.

Mary Louise Gayle had 24 years in public works as a right-of-way agent and was from Virginia Beach.

Alexander Mikhail Gusev spent 9 years in public works as a right of way agent and was from Virginia Beach.

Katherine A. Nixon, spent 10 years in public utilities as an engineer and was from Virginia Beach.

Richard H. Nettleton spent 28 years in public utilities as an engineer and was from Norfolk. He also served in an engineer brigade in Germany.

Christopher Kelly Rapp had 11 months in the job as an engineer in public works and was from Powhatan.

Ryan Keith Cox spent 12.5 years in public utilities as an account clerk and was from Virginia Beach.

Joshua A. Hardy worked in public utilities for 4.5 years as an engineering technician and was from Virginia Beach.

Michelle Missy Langer worked in public utilities for 12 years as an administrative assistant and was from Virginia Beach.

Robert Bobby Williams worked in public utilities for 41 years as a special projects coordinator and was from Chesapeake.

Herbert Bert Snelling was a contractor from Virginia Beach. He was there to try to fill a permit.

“This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach,” said Mayor Bobby Dyer. “The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues.”

In addition to the 12 people who died, four other people are in surgery for their wounds. The wounded police officer is expected to survive and was saved by his vest, said Police Chief James A. Cervera, calling the mass tragedy a “devastating incident…that is going to change the lives of a number of families from our city.” One victim was found in a vehicle, and victims were discovered on all three floors, the chief said."

Thanks @dotr for the post. I appreciated reading a little something about each individual.

 

[LadyL]

this crime didn't even surprise me
are mass shootings a trend now?
so common that we don't even blink when it happens?

 

[Sillybilly]

Dropping in at random with a reminder:

Politicizing / attempts to politicize a thread are not allowed at Websleuths.

Certain discussions (i.e. race, religion, politics) are simply off limits and are not allowed in any thread unless Tricia has authorized it for some reason on a thread specific basis.

Politicizing can result in 2 or more Warning points that remain on a member's account permanently. When only 5 points in total per month are allowed before an automated time out occurs, that does not allow a lot of leeway for additional infractions in the future.

 

[mickey2942]

this crime didn't even surprise me
are mass shootings a trend now?
so common that we don't even blink when it happens?

And I believe that due to the bullying factor that is accepted at work, school, church environments, we will see much more.

 

[Elley Mae]

Craddock was a quiet, reserved man, they said, who rarely spoke to them as they passed outside their gray duplex.

Archer said Craddock was normally gone early Monday through Thursday, but often had a later start on Friday.

Archer was a bit surprised, she said, when she saw him sitting in his white Subaru, staring straight ahead about 6:45 a.m. Friday as she headed to work.

“It was one of those things were I thought I could wave, say, ‘Hey, have a nice day,’ but I know he’s kind of to himself and doesn’t really care for people to be all up in his face,” Archer said. “I thought I’ll just get in my car and go to work. He was still sitting there by the time I left.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...e20766-840e-11e9-95a9-e2c830afe24f_story.html


Though several neighbors said they did not know Craddock well, others remembered a woman they recall as his ex-wife who liked to walk the couple’s dogs--a miniature Doberman pinscher and a beagle-- around the crescent moon-shaped subdivision. Neighbors described her as happy and outgoing in contrast to Craddock’s reserved nature.

“They were polar opposites,” said Nikolas Thornton, 15, who lived across the street from Craddock until two years ago, when Thornton’s family moved away. “She was a social butterfly. I would see him sometimes but he never said anything.”

 

[Elley Mae]

Virginia Beach shooter's kin offer condolences in note taped up outside home

Virginia Beach shooter's kin offer condolences in note taped up outside home

 

[human]

Why would he use a suppressor?