City Statement in Response to January 10 Press Conference re: May 31

​The horrific events of May 31, 2019, left an indelible scar on everyone affiliated with the City of Virginia Beach, especially the families of those who died and were injured that day. Four investigative reviews have occurred in the past 3.5 years to help us try to understand this senseless tragedy:

• Our Virginia Beach Police Department conducted an in-depth internal investigation and shared the results publicly.
• Hillard Heintze conducted an independent review. We continue to implement recommendations of this report to include efforts like Human Resources centralization and security improvements through the addition of our Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Security Division.
• The City fully cooperated with the FBI. The FBI independently reviewed all known electronic data associated with the shooter.
• The City continues to assist the Commission on the May 31, 2019 Virginia Beach Mass Shooting. We have answered the questions of the commission in writing and have attended their public meeting. We continue to respond to their questions related to ongoing efforts of our organization as part of this incident.

The City has willingly supported our employees and the victims' families since that day. While not an exhaustive list of our support, the City provided the following:

• Every victim's family was offered individual meetings with our Police Department to review and discuss investigative findings.
• The City established a dedicated office and staff resources committed to long-term recovery efforts for those impacted and our workforce.
• The six physically injured workers have received from the City a combined $5.3M in workers compensation benefits to-date.
• The estates of the 11 employees we lost that day have received from the City a combined $1.5M in workers compensation benefits.
  • The above funding is in addition to the kind donations the families/injured workers received from the United Way-administered charitable fund.

• The VB Strong Center, established October 2019, continues to offer services into 2023 to empower and uplift those affected by May 31 in their journeys to healing and resiliency.

The City shares the families' desire to obtain a full forensic evaluation of the recently discovered laptop that allegedly belongs to the shooter. We look forward to prompt submission of this laptop to a law enforcement agency for evaluation. We share the families' hopes that it will shed further light on May 31, 2019.

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