VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – May 31, 2019, was a horrifying day in the history of Virginia Beach.
An engineer working for the city put in his resignation, then hours later gunned down his fellow coworkers at the Municipal Center on a Friday afternoon.
There were 12 people killed during the rampage and the gunman was killed by police.
For months, the News 3 Investigative Team worked to get police body camera video of that day.
Much of the video was redacted, but the bravery of the first responders was clear.
The terror of the people on the scene was also clear.
One of those people heard in the video was Jason Nixon. He showed up to search for his wife who was killed in the shooting.
At his request, we played the body camera video for him.
Nixon shook his head outside of Building 2, which is the place his wife Kate took her last breath, a place of pain.
He recalls a phone conversation they had 15 minutes before the shooting took place.
“She said, ‘I didn’t get a chance to get food for dinner, so I’ll get some buckets of chicken from Harris Teeter and then we’ll go to the girls softball game’.” Nixon said Kate told him that Dwyane put his resignation in and he asked where he was going. Nixon said, “She’s like I don’t care. I’m just glad he’s leaving because he’s incompetent.”
They hung up, then minutes later Nixon said he got another call from Kate.
“She calls and says, 'Jason, I’ve been shot, call 911. This is what I regret the most of that day. I didn’t say run, I didn’t say hide, I didn’t say anything. I just said I’ll call right now,” said Nixon.
The News 3 Investigative Team filed a Freedom of Information request to get police body camera video from May 31, 2019.
We met up with Nixon as he listened to himself on the police body camera footage. You can hear him tell the officer that his wife called him and said she had been shot.
The officer is heard telling him, “They have all the casualties in one area. They’re getting rescue to them so they can take him off to the hospital."
But sadly, Kate was already gone.
Three and a half years later, Nixon is still fighting for answers for him, his three daughters and others who are struggling.
Nixon and other family members of those who were killed that day do not feel like they have been treated fairly. They have said they have struggled to get mental health resources and do not feel like they have been compensated fairly for the loss of their loved ones.
Nixon said it has been extremely difficult for his family to find help with therapists and resources. He is outraged by the lack of money being spent to help the family of the mass shooting at the municipal center.
Nixon is part of six families that have retained Justin Fairfax the former Lt. Governor and attorney.
Fairfax said the families are extremely frustrated with the city.
“They felt like there was no transparency in the process. They still publicly have not been about to hear and understand all the facts that what happened on May 31, 2019 and now four years has gone by and they know that they have not been supported. These are families that have had to struggle enormously in every way imaginable. They’ve struggled emotionally. They’ve struggled financially. They’ve struggled spiritually,” said Fairfax.
The city provided News 3 an updated statement:
“The impact of the events of May 31 cannot be understated. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the organization who was not touched by this tragedy in some way, in addition to the loss and pain that the families of the victims have endured.
To that end, the City has engaged VB Strong Center to be a conduit for those who wish to seek counseling services. The City itself does not provide these services, however if anyone, especially those who were directly impacted by this event, have had difficulty accessing services through our partner, the City needs to hear about it so this can be addressed as appropriate from our end.
Regarding answers about what happened in Building 2 that day, the official reports from Hillard Heintze and the Virginia Beach Police Department are publicly available. The FBI noted that only the shooter knew the real reason why he committed this horrific act of violence [fbi.gov], which is understandably frustrating. However, the City remains committed to participating in investigative efforts that may provide more answers about what happened on May 31, 2019. Unfortunately, there is nothing additional to add beyond what has been publicly stated.
The City continues to reach out and connect with the families of all of the victims in an effort to ensure they are provided with information and resources for ongoing support. However we recognize that individuals grieve and heal at their own pace and will remain steadfast in our efforts to keep them informed about resources available to them and any new information that may become available about the tragedy.”
FBI Assessment of Attacker’s Motivation
As part of the investigative team’s effort to determine the shooter’s motivation for the workplace attack, VBPD requested assistance from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), based in Quantico, Virginia. BAU has completed its analysis of the information and evidence gathered throughout the investigation and shared its key findings with VBPD during the final briefing.
Following is the summary of BAU’s key findings:
BAU assesses the shooter was motivated by perceived workplace grievances, which he fixated on for years. BAU found the shooter struggled with how he perceived his own work performance and how others at work viewed him. The shooter’s inflated sense of self-importance contributed to this conflict and led him to believe he was unjustly and purposely repeatedly criticized and slighted. Violence was viewed by the shooter as a way to reconcile this conflict and restore his perverted view of justice.
BAU assesses the shooter’s perceived grievances began taking shape as early as 2014, and he isolated himself by disengaging from relationships to conceal his intentions. For this reason, BAU assesses that no individual or group was in a position to see the confluence of behaviors that may have forewarned the attack.
BAU assesses that the shooter suffered from significant mental health stressors which appear to have contributed in part to his decompensation in advance of the attack; however mental health stressors alone cannot explain the Virginia Beach attack.
BAU further assesses that the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooter is similar in many ways to other active shooters studied by the FBI. Mass shootings are a predatory act, generally with planned and purposeful violence intended for an identified target, person, place, or institution.
It is important to note that only the shooter knew the real reason why he committed this horrific act of violence; however, at this time, the FBI is confident, based on evidence collected, that the above assessment is accurate.
When it comes to support and resources, the city has previously said they dedicated office and staff resources to long-term recovery efforts.
They said the six people injured got $5.3 million in workers compensation benefits and the 11 families of those killed that day got $1.5million in workers’ compensation benefits.
Public donations were also distributed through a United Way Fund.
But Nixon believes it’s not enough and said the $1.5 million came from state funds and was divided among 11 families. Due to victim Bert Snelling not working for the city, his family was not entitled to workers' compensation through the city.
Nixon said he believes the salaries of those killed should have continued to be provided to the families by the city. He said he was outraged by the response he received when asked if his family could get medical, dental, and eye insurance. He said they offered his family a free year membership to the recreation facilities in the city.
“I asked him for medical dental and eye insurance. That was my first ask, and they say Kate didn’t technically retire, so we can’t give you medical, dental, and eye insurance. I’m like no but your employee murdered her on your property,” said Nixon.
He said through state programs his daughters will be able to go to college for free.
Delegate Barry Knight said he worked with the governor to put $10 million dollars in the budget to help victims of mass violence in the state of Virginia.
Supporters are hoping for this to pass in the coming weeks.
