Federal resources to aid in the investigation. Lets check in now with cnns brian todd. You were earlier at the press conference and the city manager was there and the police chief. They are heartebroken. This is so personal because the Public Servants were their colleagues, family and friends. Reporter if you look at this tide water area of virginia its essentially four cities and together the four cities being Virginia Beach, norfolk, chesapeake and williamsburg if put that in there. Each individual town is small enough so Something Like this hits home in that way. They all know nobody. We spoke to the mayor of Virginia Beach a short time ago and he talked about losing his personal friend herbert snelling, nicknamed bert, who was the contractor who just happened to be here getting renewing that license and renewing that permit when he was killed. Take a listen to what the mayor had to say about losing his friend. A personal friend. He was he did a lot of carpentry work in my house. He was a contractor and he was in the building getting a permit. And i found out about it on social media about midnight last night and it rocked my foundation. Reporter that is mayor bobby dyer talking about losing his friend Herbert Bert Snelling who was a contractor and known herbert for five years and he had done work on the mayors home and he is heartbroken he has lost his friend. He knew many who worked in that building and the mayor of this town and knows so many people. For him you can see it in his face and hear it in his voice. He is really having a tough time pr processing this. We have to talk about what we learned what happened in a possible motive. Police are not able to tell us what the motive was. We hope to learn that later. Just to give people some perspective here we are on what is a campus of more than 20 buildings, municipal buildings. Building 2 is the one directly behind us which is where that shooting took place. We are still waiting for details from authorities about exactly how everything played out. You see the police tape. That constitutes this is still a working crime scene. How much of the activity took place outside and how much of it inside. I do recall hearing from the police chief and mayor talking about this is a public building. Reporter yes. And while this gunman had a badge and employees have their i. D. S that allow them to be all of these buildings, this is a public building and so entry for citizens, its open. And you do find yourself asking what about all of those rules was he aware of . He probably had a real knowledge of those rules and of, you know, what people enforce and dont enforce here and the layout of the building, of course. He knew it very, very well. Luckily the police also knew it and they were able to intercept him through the sound of gunfire getting up there and intercepting him. But carnage on three floors. He left victims on three floors. He knew new of the building to get to that many people that quickly. A public works building. On this campus you have court and a Public School system, fire, police. Its all right here. This does constitute kind of like downtown, you know, city life without it being such because it really is very kind of suburban and very neighborhood like. Brian todd, thank you very much. We will check back with you. Appreciate it. For the workers in the City Building behind me when the shooting started, the minutes surely felt like hours. Many today are just thankful to be alive. They are sharing more about those terrifying moments when they first realized that there was a shooting under way. We were all just terrified. We almost kind of felt like it wasnt real, that we were in a dream, you know . You hear this all the time on the news but you dont think its ever going to happen to you. When it happens its like an out of body experience and youre terrified because all you hear is the gunshots. We heard the sound downstairs. There is a ladies on the stairs unconscious and blood on the stairs. We didnt know what happened. When they went upstairs, she came back down and said get out of the building. Somebody had been shot. We heard shooting. We heard shooting. But we didnt think it was that close, like in proximity of the building. I thank god they were to alert us in time because if it had been ten minutes more, we all would have been outside. So that is what im grateful for today. I want to bring in now Virginia Governor ralph northam. Governor, thank you for being with me. I understand that you are near a hospital where people are being treated. What do you do with this information that we are hearing . Very sketchy, you know, information in terms of sdadeta about what motivated this gunman. We know in detail four Public Servants are dead and their service to this community range, you know, from 11 months to 40 years. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Im at the hospital and was able to come by and say hello and thank to the caregivers here. Im a physician. I served during desert storm taking care of Wounded Soldiers and taking care of children all my life and i just wanted to be here to thank the doctors, the nurses and the staff for just taking such wonderful care of these victims. Also was able to spend sometime with the family and one of the patients. I wanted to be here to say thank you. Governor northam, this is, yet another, horrible deadly shooting. This time, a workplace, you know . A public building. People are trying to figure out when does it end . Why does it happen in the first place . What are the answers you need in order to figure out how to prevent how to comfort, how to grapple with what just happened . Well, its a horrific tragedy and these tragedies are becoming all too familiar, and so we as a society, certainly me as governor, our legislators, need to have a discussion on, you know, what causes these tragedies and what we can do collectively to keep this from happening again, but today, we are here for the families. Twelve precious lives were lost yesterday. These were individuals that came to work yesterday morning for the city of Virginia Beach and intending to go home to their families and that didnt happen. Now there is a tremendous void and we need to all Work Together to make sure we take care of these families and give them the support they need and certainly four individuals are being cared for in our local hospitals and we want to do everything we can to have a positive outcome for them. As a leader, you would rely, largely, on your own gut and your instincts. What does your gut, what does your instincts say should be done . You said there should be a discussion. But discussions can sometimes lead to nothing or it can lead to something. But what is your gut and your instincts say needs to happen to address what is unfolding across america. Not just here at Virginia Beach. This is the latest example, but across the u. S. , what does your gut say needs to be done . Well, frederica, we government 12 lives yesterday. If you look at the commonwealth of virginia, we lost over 900 lives the past year to gun violence and gunrelated accidents. Again, actions speak much louder than words so i will make decisions in the upcoming days but we need to look at our laws. Are they safe . Do they keep people protected in the commonwealth of virginia . We have introduced legislation each year the last few years and it has been defeated but things like this continue to happen. We cant be desensitized to these tragedies and its time for us to take action. As the leader of virginia, as the governor, i plan to do that. The president tweeted earlier federal assistance would be available, is being made available, and how about that assist your state and how will that assist Virginia Beach . What do you see in terms of your greatest need in which federal government could step in . Thank you. This is all hands on deck. I spoke with our president last night. He offered his condolences and full support at the national level. We are offering full support at the state level and we have local official have been on this. Everybody is in this together. Again, its a horrific tragedy and we want to make sure thoood to deal with the families and improve this horrific tragedy. Governor, describe your emotions. Are you feeling frustrated . Are you feeling pain by this . How does this hit you personally when you hear while we have for now is a 40yearold d disgruntled current worker who is armed and who comes into the workplace, you know, wrecks terror and brings terror and leaves in its wake 12 people who are dead. Frederica, we all grieve for these families. As a physician, there is nothing more difficult than feeling with the loss of a loved one. It does hit me personally. As the governor of the commonwealth of virginia, we certainly dont want tragedies to define virginia. We are a strong commonwealth. We are faithful people. We believe in working together and, together, we will get through this. Governor ralph northam, thank you. Our condolences going out to everyone impacted and affected. Still ahead, more on this horrific workplace shooting. Virginia beach is just beginning to mourn this tragedy. We are back with more after this. S. S. U. S. U. V. These letters used to mean something. Letters earned in backwoods, high hills, and steep dunes. But somewhere along the way, suvs became pretenders, not pioneers. But you never forgot the difference, and neither did we. There are many suvs, but theres only one legend. 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Im Fredricka Whitfield live in Virginia Beach, a city reeling from a mass shooting inside the government building behind me that cut the lives of 12. The past hour, residents gathered for an emotional prayer vigil to honor the victims and they sang songs. They are trying to begin the healing process as investigators try to search for answers into what exactly drove this suspect to open fire on his own colleagues and coworkers and then, of course, in the midst of a gun battle with police officers. Community leaders say this deadly rampage has shattered their sense of safety. Still a sense of shock, disbelief. You know . Why did this happen . I guess the big question is why. This rocked the foundation of Virginia Beach. We are the safest city of a city our size in this country with a magnificent police, fire, ems, and sheriff. This rocked our foundation. With me now is former secret Service Agent under president obama and cnn Law Enforcement analyst jonathan wakrow. Talk to us where the police are in this investigation. Active crime scene and yellow crime scene tape behind me and this is building 2. One of many municipal buildings on this campus. Police identified the suspect and say he was a City Employee and he was 45 years ago. He had a handgun and a sound suppressor attached to that. They went to his place of residence they found a greater arsenal. So knowing all of this, this is what authorities have revealed to us thus far. What is your feeling about what they know if its totality about the motivation of this individual . What was really at the root of, you know, what sparked this individual . And then what and how did it all transpire here . A lot to unpack here. We are less than 24 hours out from when this tragic event had occurred. There is a lot of different work streams that investigators are working on right now. Where you are, there is a massive crime scene behind you. Multiple floors. There was a tremendous amount of victims. So all of that. There is a ton of, you know, items of evidentiary value at that location. The police are at the residence. They are searching through not only his car but also going to go back and look through social media and conduct interviews of friends and family and try to ascertain what was the motivation for this horrific, horrific attack . Typically, for targeted acts of violence like this, they are always rooted in some sort of grievance and especially a Workplace Violence situation. What we like to know was he targeting one individual and everyone else was collateral damage, or was he attacking the establishment . A lot of Unanswered Questions here. The authorities did say it was indiscriminate shooting is how spotters described it, there was indiscriminate shooting but you still believe there could be a target that this gunman had . Its always a possibility. Listen. We dont know what the trigger was for him to, you know, transcend from just being known as a disgruntled employee to a violent hostile actor. Some catalyst made him make this violent act and we have to understand what that was. Was it a possible suspension . Was he potentially getting fired . Was there some other workplace conflict that we are just not aware of right now . The police will understand all of that real soon through their investigative process, but we also want to take a look way back and understand were there missed warning signs along the way where there were behavioral issues that potentially went unnoticed that it could have been a leading indicator of, you know, future, you know, violent acts. Those are the things we need to address, you know, collectively. At the end of the day, we have a shared fate in solving these Mass Shootings situations. Its not just left to Law Enforcement or one entity. We have to come together collectively even as the governor indicated a few moments ago to bring forth a comprehensive solution to the Mass Shootings in our country. A Common Thread after mass shooting, we talk about security and access and we are talking about a current employee with a badge and 15 years of experience under his belt. We heard from authorities underscore these are Public Access buildings. You got a courthouse here and administrative school, fire, police, et cetera. What will potentially be entertained as they address security adding another layer after and during this investigation of what motivated this suspect . We are talking about the issues of Workplace Violence. There isnt just a physical security measure you can take. Its really three elements. Its people process and knowledge and cojoined to identify threats in advance of, you know, them transcending into a violent act. So, you know, we need to start taking a look at developing very comprehensive Workplace Violence, you know, prevention policies and procedures, bring awareness, create a culture of security awareness. Allow people, employees to have a pathway to report anom mus behavior before we get to a point where someone hits the point of, you know, becoming a violent hostile actor. Jonathan, thank you so much for your expertise, as always. Thanks a lot. Coming up, another deadly shooting in an american city, leaving this nation, once again, asking so what really can be done . How do we stop these tragedies from happening over and over again . More on that coming up. Dont you get the one of those travel sites . They tell you that, but when you book at hilton. Com, you get the price match guarantee. So if you find your room at a lower rate, hilton is like. Were gonna match that rate and give you an extra 25 off. What would travel sites do if you found a better price . 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