SWAT team drills at site of Virginia Beach mass shootings

A SWAT team in Virginia conducted an exercise Wednesday in a building where a gunman killed 12 people in a mass shooting last spring, rekindling memories and stirring anxiety among few workers who were inside, a newspaper reported.

Virginia Beach SWAT team showed up Wednesday morning at Building 2 to train with at least one K-9 on abandoned floors in Municipal Center building where shooting occurred, Virginian-Pilot reported.

Information Techlogy staff complained y could hear yelling and barking on upper floors while y were trying to work on first floor, giving some of m flashbacks to May 31, when a longtime city engineer shot 16 people in building before police killed him.

City police spokeswoman Linda Kuehn said she was t aware of training. Capt. John Thomas Orr emailed IT staff to apologize. He said police h reached out to a designated point of contact for Building 2 prior to training exercise and tified City Manr’s Office and Emergency Communications.

“I am sorry if we caused anyone any distress,” Orr wrote in email obtained by Virginian-Pilot. “We do t anticipate utilizing any Municipal Center buildings for any police training during rmal business hours for foreseeable future.”

More than 10 city employees still work in building, which is next door to City Hall and accessible to only select individuals. Todd Grissom, a systems analyst for city who works on first floor, said police have occasionally used site for training for more than a month and one has given lower level employees prior warning. He said city has been insensitive to workers who were t mentally prepared to see SWAT in full gear.

Grissom decided to avoid office Wednesday after his boss sent an email shortly before 9:30 a.m. saying staff could work from home due to police training.

“When y show up out of blue, it does tend to cause anxiety amongst staff,” Grissom said. “This disregard is a little hurtful.”