In the first six months of this year there have been 340 mass shootings resulting in 416 deaths. No surprise, then, if you’ve forgotten about the May 31, 2019, mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center.
But the families and friends of the 12 people who died and four who were wounded that day will never forget.
The Virginia legislature set up a commission to investigate the reasons for the shooter’s rampage, and to come up with recommendations to prevent future mass shootings.
I served as a member of the commission for more than two years before becoming the 14th and most recent member to resign. Why? Because I have come to believe that the commission is not interested in finding answers; it is interested in perpetuating a cover-up.
Before resigning, I produced an 89-page report submitted to the commission, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, who sponsored the legislation with Miyares to create the May 31 panel. It detailed the background of the shooter leading to the events that tragic day, the “toxic” environment in which he worked, evidence of his growing mental illness, the obstacles faced by first responders, and a comprehensive list of findings and recommendations.
From the outset, it appears to me the commission was more concerned about protecting the city from litigation than finding the truth.
The commission was an unwieldy 20 members, stacked with former high-level city employees — clearly a conflict of interest — and had no subpoena power, so city employees would not talk to us for fear of retaliation.
The city turned down most Freedom of Information Act requests, as well as requests to interview human resources personnel and the killer’s coworkers and supervisors.
I participated in more than 35 interviews.
The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit asserts the killer was not sending signals he was violent. My investigation uncovered just the opposite. Yet when asked how they arrived at their conclusion, BAU analysts responded, “We examined all the evidence the city gave us.”
That does not answer the question — or maybe it does.
My investigation finds three areas in which the city appears to have been guilty of negligence: security, human resources, and training.
Security: City officials repeatedly diverted money from security to other expenses, ignored concerns about security in Building 2 where the shooting occurred, and did not include active shooter drills as a regular part of employee training.
Security protocols were so badly flawed it took police nearly 20 minutes to gain access to where the killer was on his rampage. During that time, at least one person was killed and another wounded.
Human Resources: Many employees had no confidence in the HR liaison officers who had little or no training and experience for their duties. Specifically, they had no training in how to identify and help troubled or problem employees.
Numerous interviewees described a “toxic” work environment in which some mid-level managers publicly disparaged employees, gossiped about them behind their backs, and made racist remarks.
Training: The city of Virginia Beach employee training was woefully deficient. Nowhere is that more evident than in a city employee threatening a Red Cross official (trained in mass casualty incident response) with arrest unless they left the scene of the crime.
The commission botched an opportunity to help our nation find solutions to these senseless killings. It has failed the victims and their families.
I call upon the Virginia attorney general to investigate if any of the obstacles I outline in my report amount to obstruction of a state investigative commission.
If individuals, companies and government bodies are not held accountable for gross negligence and incompetence, what hope is there for ending the carnage? Until it is more profitable to prevent gun violence than to bear the costs of the aftermath, these rampages will continue to grow exponentially.
David Cariens of Irvington is a former member of the Commission to Investigate the Virginia Beach May 31, 2019, Mass Shooting and a former CIA analyst. Download a copy of his May 31 report at his website davecariens.com.
