Virginia Beach Outlines Future Uses for Building 2, Site of 2019 Mass Shooting
City officials say the renovated building will house police administration, the 1st Precinct and the city's IT data center, with the transition beginning in December, though a victim's husband objects.
By Daniela Vargas ·
Virginia Beach officials have laid out more detailed plans for the municipal center campus, including the future of Building 2, where a mass shooting took place on May 31, 2019. Twelve people were killed in the attack, and others were wounded.
Public Works Director LJ Hansen briefed the City Council on Tuesday afternoon about the progress of renovations at several campus buildings. Building 2 has been under renovation since March 2021, and the city has announced it will become home to Virginia Beach Police Administration, the 1st Police Precinct and the city's IT Data Center.
According to Hansen, some furniture has already been moved into the building. Police are expected to begin their transition in December, and the project is scheduled to be fully complete in January 2024.
City Manager Patrick Duhaney addressed the sensitivity of the move in a memo, writing in part that "This transition requires careful, respectful, and thoughtful planning."
To support employees returning to the campus, the city has set up an Integration Support Team, known as I.S.T. Hansen described it as one of several measures intended to help people make the transition back. The city said the team, working with the Commonwealth's Office for Victims of Crime, has developed an action plan. It is meant to make survivors aware of the safety and security measures in place, inform them of their options and accommodations, and give them skills and tools to recognize escalation in themselves and others.
The plans have drawn opposition. Jason Nixon, whose wife Kate was killed in the building, told News 3 that he strongly opposes turning it into a police station. He also voiced concern about placing police officers who were traumatized by the tragedy back in that space.
Other buildings on the campus are changing as well. Building 11, the current police station, will become a new workspace for Public Works, though employees are not expected to move in until 2025 because renovations are still under way. Building 3, the former City Hall, is also being renovated and is expected to be finished in August 2024.
The city has published images of the renovation work, and News 3 is scheduled to tour the interior on Nov. 1. May 31, 2024, will mark five years since the shooting, and the city says remembrance ceremonies will be held. News 3 expects to report further next week when the Virginia Beach Police Department speaks about its transition.
Originally published by News Media House · Source: WTKR News 3
