VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Wednesday marks a tragic day in Virginia Beach’s history.
Four years ago, 12 people were shot and killed while at work. It happened inside Building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center.
As the community comes together to remember and honor the victims, the first responders who were on the scene are also reflecting on the heartbreak of that day and the healing that’s come after.
It started like any other day for Virginia Beach Police Officer Lt. Brad Wesseler.
“As I was traveling to work, I got a call from a coworker,” Wesseler said. “He said ‘turn to police channel 1, there’s an active shooter.'”
He was on his way to the Oceanfront and immediately turned around.
“As I’m traveling there, you’re just trying to make sense of what’s going on,” he said. “You could just hear it in everybody’s voice that something serious was going on. It was an active situation and it was very chaotic.”
Wesseler says the scene was busy and chaotic. He said, “Building 2 is a substantially large building. It’s three floors. I knew it had a basement. It sits on a corner lot so it had a vast amount of space around it.”
However, Wesseler said the law enforcement response was immediate.
“They’re rendering aid, they’re carrying people out of the building, they’re escorting other victims out of the building,” Wesseler said. “It didn’t matter what rank you were, what position. It really didn’t matter what public safety department you were — fire, rescue, sheriff’s office, police department, civilians, military helping us. It was great to see that in a time of crisis, we all came together.”
New body camera video from VBPD shows law enforcement together inside of the building.
Wesseler took in the horrific scene in just moments and got to work inside.
“So it’s really just kind of making sure certain areas were being checked, that we were getting victims out that we could,” Wesseler said.
The first call to 911 was around 4:06 p.m. At 4:10 p.m., police entered the building.
“This is a calling and when we hear that call, we’re going to come and we’re going to do the best we can to help,” said Wesseler. “I think that’s what everyone did that day.”
At 4:15 p.m., former Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera was getting word of what happened, as his flight returning from a police chief conference just landed.
“We came down here, we had a command post already set up,” Cervera said. “The building was going through its second search, it was already searched once to find the suspect.”
Cervera said emotions were temporarily set aside, and the focus was on the people inside of Building 2. He said, “The training, the discipline and the response was absolutely excellent by the officers, the fire department, and the rescue squad.”
At the first press conference of the night, he shared the tragic details of what happened.
“It was extremely difficult to have to discuss that, but I relied on the strength of the command staff, the strength of the officers, and we kept it, the respect and dignity for the 12 who didn’t make it, for the four who were injured but are survivors,” Cervera said. “And for the cops who went into the gunfire, for the officer who was shot, and for the other officers who were able to neutralize the suspect.”
Cervera said training between different first responding agencies started in 2013 after the Columbine shooting.
“Actually, the last training evolution was a few months prior to this incident, so by that time we had trained, we knew exactly how we were going to respond,” Cervera said.
He hopes that teamwork continues.
“Plan for the unthinkable. Continually train for the unthinkable,” Cervera said. “Meet with your counterparts from other police departments, federal agencies, local agencies. Have a consensus on how you’re going to respond to such a thing.”
Wesseler said that inter-agency training is something they do often.
“In my 20 years here, we train together with the fire department and sheriff’s office,” Wesseler said. “We had enough familiarity that when we went into that building, it didn’t matter who you were, we knew we wanted to help and took immediate action.”
While Building 2 was a scene of tragedy and heartbreak, it will soon become the home of the Virginia Beach Police Department, showing what it means to hope and heal.
“I think the city’s done a great job to reinvigorate that building and not forget, but find a positive way to move forward and give that building a new legacy and show that we are Virginia Beach strong,” said Wesseler. “We’re not going to let evil come in and take anything away from our city.”
Both Wesseler and Cervera told 10 On Your Side that they’re looking forward to visiting the memorial.