Virginia Beach officers who shot at mass shooter in 2019 named in commonwealth’s attorney’s report

Virginia Beach — Almost two years after the Virginia Beach mass shooting, the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office on Friday named the officers who fatally wounded the gunman.

Virginia Beach Police Sergeants Mark Laino and Peter Koepp, and Officers Bobby Meis and Christopher Watkins fired their weapons while inside Building 2 at the Municipal Center on May 31, 2019.

Twelve people died, four city employees were injured and Koepp was shot in the stomach. The officer’s ballistics vest saved him from serious injury, but the bullet still broke his skin and caused bleeding.

In a Friday letter to Police Chief Paul Neudigate, Commonwealth’s Attorney Colin Stolle said he completed his review of the shooting and determined the officers were justified in their use of deadly force.

Stolle said the officers “were acting in defense of the employees still in the building, themselves, and the other officers present at the scene, when they discharged their firearms.” No charges will be filed, Stolle said.

“It is clear that the officers returned fire after being fired upon by Dwayne Antonio Craddock,” Stolle wrote.

The officers involved in the incident declined to be interviewed, according to Linda Kuehn, a spokesperson for the department.

Stolle’s report delivered an account of how officers ultimately took down the suspect inside of Building 2.

As the officers began to search the second floor, Meis spotted Craddock through the window of a door in the hallway. As he raised his arm and pointed a gun at the officer, Meis started firing his carbine rifle at the suspect until his weapon malfunctioned. The other three officers were armed with 9mm handguns.

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A short time later, the suspect circled behind the officers and began rapidly shooting at them from behind a closed door with a window.

The officers, standing in a hallway without any cover, couldn’t see the shooter — only where the bullets were coming through the door and drywall. They returned fire, concentrating on a small area where they believed the suspect was. That’s when one of the rounds fired by Craddock hit Koepp in the stomach.

Laino helped Koepp get out of the building to receive medical treatment.

Meis and the shooter continued to exchange gunfire while Watkins covered their backs to make sure Craddock didn’t sneak up behind them again.

SWAT officers arrived and forced open the door where the shooter was taking cover. He still did not surrender, physically resisting officers while they tried to apprehend him. Craddock later died of multiple gun shot wounds at Virginia Beach General Hospital.

“I believe that these officers potentially saved the lives of numerous individuals by finding, confronting, and eventually stopping Craddock, who had already injured and taken the lives of so many innocent victims,” Stolle concluded.

Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com