Police in Virginia Beach have named the 12 victims of a mass shooting in a local government building.
The shooting happened at about 4pm local time on Friday when an employee of the Public Utilities Department entered a building at the Virginia Beach Municipal Centre, and opened fire.
He was identified as DeWayne Craddock, a disgruntled city engineer and co-worker of most of the victims.
Police said he used a .45 calibre handgun equipped with a "sound suppressor" device and extended ammunition magazines that he used to reload during the attack.
They said more weapons were found at the scene and at Craddock's home.
Eleven of the twelve were city employees, while one was a contractor.
The victims were named as Laquita C. Brown, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev and Katherine A. Nixon.
Richard H. Nettleton, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua A. Hardy, Michelle "Missy" Langer, Robert "Bobby" Williams and Herbert "Bert" Snelling were also killed.
Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera said two police supervisors from a building across the street arrived within minutes of the first shots, and the suspect was killed after a lengthy gun battle.
He said the gunman "immediately and indiscriminately" fired on his victims, but declined to comment on any possible motive.
According to local media, Craddock was 40 years old and had no serious criminal record.
The rampage in Virginia Beach was the worst mass shooting in the United States since November 2018, when a dozen people were slain at a Los Angeles-area bar and grill by a gunman who then killed himself.
Mr Cervera has said he will only give the gunman's name once because city authorities want to focus on his victims.
Virginia Beach City Manager Dave Hansen identified the victims during the news conference and said that, except for the contractor, they had worked for Virginia Beach for between 11 months and 41 years.
"They leave a void that we will never be able to fill," Hansen said.
The four people who were seriously wounded in the shooting were still being treated at local hospitals. They included a police officer whose life was saved by his ballistic vest, Cervera said.
The bloodshed unfolded at Building Two of Virginia Beach's municipal center complex, where office space for more than 400 employees houses information technology, public works, planning and utilities departments next door to City Hall.
