VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - Authorities announced that a convicted felon shot and killed two Virginia Beach police officers at point-blank range as they were already lying on the ground wounded and defenseless following a traffic stop.
According to ABC News, the officers have been identified as 25-year-old Cameron Girvin and 30-year-old Christopher Reese. Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said that both men were pronounced dead early Saturday morning, February 22nd, after being shot multiple times in a "horrific" encounter that was caught on the officers' body cameras and their police vehicle dashboard camera.
When speaking about the suspect, Neudigate said, "I can tell you from the video that after he executed our officers, he calmly walked away." The suspect has since been identified as 42-year-old John McCoy III of Virginia Beach. Police said they found McCoy dead from an apparent suicide.
Neudigate said it was the first time in 16 years that the Virginia Beach Police Department has lost an officer in a line-of-duty shooting. He said every member of his department is hurting. During a news conference the police chief said, "We asked them to go out in this community and keep us safe from evil and last night, evil found them."
Girvin and Reese were partnered up on Friday night and were assigned to the midnight shift traffic car. At around 11:27 p.m. on Friday, February 21st, the officers attempted to stop a blue Hyundai Sonata after noticing that it had expired license plate tags. The driver, according to Neudigate, failed to pull over.
The police chief said the officers followed the car to a dead-end street, where the suspect pulled over and stopped. Girvin and Reese approached the car, which had two people inside, and requested that the driver, identified as McCoy, to get out. Neudigate said, "The male driver was immediately argumentative, refused to exit the vehicle at the officers' request. They made numerous requests for him to exit. At some point, he complied with the request and stepped out of the vehicle."
Once out of the car, a "tussle" ensued between McCoy and the officers. Neudigate said, "This individual pulled a pistol from his pocket and immediately shot both VBPD officers. Those officers fell to the ground. While on the ground defenseless, he shot them each a second time."
Responding officers began conducting a grid search for the suspect and found his lifeless body just after midnight on Saturday in a shed behind an apartment complex near where the officers were shot. Neudigate said of the suspect, "I can say from our preliminary investigation at this point in time, with everything that we know, leaves us to believe that this is a self-inflicted gunshot wound." He added, "At no time did any of our officers fire shots."
Both officers were taken to area hospitals, where they were pronounced dead at different times. Both officers were surrounded by immediately family, close friends, and fellow officers when the succumbed to their injuries. Neudigate said, "Officers Girvin and Reese, they were dedicated, determined peace officers and public servants. They had stellar reputations in our department, and their work ethic was beyond reproach."
Reese was a member of the police department since 2022, having previously worked for the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office between 2019 and 2022. Girvin joined the police department in 2020. Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer led a moment of silence for Reese and Girvin at the start of the press conference, calling them "heroes."
He said, "Today our city is heartbroken. We mourn the loss of two of our brave Virginia Beach police officers, who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their dedication to protecting our community will never be forgotten."
Investigators are trying to determine a motive for the double homicide. Neudigate said McCoy had one felony conviction stemming from 2009, but had the officers found the gun on him, he would have faced a new felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He said the person in the car with McCoy at the time of the shooting was not arrested and is not facing any charges.
According to ABC News, the officers have been identified as 25-year-old Cameron Girvin and 30-year-old Christopher Reese. Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said that both men were pronounced dead early Saturday morning, February 22nd, after being shot multiple times in a "horrific" encounter that was caught on the officers' body cameras and their police vehicle dashboard camera.
When speaking about the suspect, Neudigate said, "I can tell you from the video that after he executed our officers, he calmly walked away." The suspect has since been identified as 42-year-old John McCoy III of Virginia Beach. Police said they found McCoy dead from an apparent suicide.
Neudigate said it was the first time in 16 years that the Virginia Beach Police Department has lost an officer in a line-of-duty shooting. He said every member of his department is hurting. During a news conference the police chief said, "We asked them to go out in this community and keep us safe from evil and last night, evil found them."
Girvin and Reese were partnered up on Friday night and were assigned to the midnight shift traffic car. At around 11:27 p.m. on Friday, February 21st, the officers attempted to stop a blue Hyundai Sonata after noticing that it had expired license plate tags. The driver, according to Neudigate, failed to pull over.
The police chief said the officers followed the car to a dead-end street, where the suspect pulled over and stopped. Girvin and Reese approached the car, which had two people inside, and requested that the driver, identified as McCoy, to get out. Neudigate said, "The male driver was immediately argumentative, refused to exit the vehicle at the officers' request. They made numerous requests for him to exit. At some point, he complied with the request and stepped out of the vehicle."
Once out of the car, a "tussle" ensued between McCoy and the officers. Neudigate said, "This individual pulled a pistol from his pocket and immediately shot both VBPD officers. Those officers fell to the ground. While on the ground defenseless, he shot them each a second time."
Responding officers began conducting a grid search for the suspect and found his lifeless body just after midnight on Saturday in a shed behind an apartment complex near where the officers were shot. Neudigate said of the suspect, "I can say from our preliminary investigation at this point in time, with everything that we know, leaves us to believe that this is a self-inflicted gunshot wound." He added, "At no time did any of our officers fire shots."
Both officers were taken to area hospitals, where they were pronounced dead at different times. Both officers were surrounded by immediately family, close friends, and fellow officers when the succumbed to their injuries. Neudigate said, "Officers Girvin and Reese, they were dedicated, determined peace officers and public servants. They had stellar reputations in our department, and their work ethic was beyond reproach."
Reese was a member of the police department since 2022, having previously worked for the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office between 2019 and 2022. Girvin joined the police department in 2020. Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer led a moment of silence for Reese and Girvin at the start of the press conference, calling them "heroes."
He said, "Today our city is heartbroken. We mourn the loss of two of our brave Virginia Beach police officers, who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their dedication to protecting our community will never be forgotten."
Investigators are trying to determine a motive for the double homicide. Neudigate said McCoy had one felony conviction stemming from 2009, but had the officers found the gun on him, he would have faced a new felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He said the person in the car with McCoy at the time of the shooting was not arrested and is not facing any charges.
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Comments
2025-02-25T16:37-0500 | Comment by: Herbert
Horrendous! Just dreadful that the officers never got off one shot. I hope it wasn't a result of absurd limitations placed on them by civilians on the Town Council.
2025-02-25T17:42-0500 | Comment by: Jimmy
Rest Easy brothers, your lives mattered. The perp got off easy in my opinion.
2025-02-25T18:35-0500 | Comment by: James
Officers need to start approaching every stop as potential death threat!
2025-02-25T18:46-0500 | Comment by: natalie
The only type of consolidation I can come up with is that this low life took his own life and that this would certainly warrant a death by execution without any possible leniency.
2025-02-25T22:06-0500 | Comment by: James
The traffic stops are NOT lawful .... The pigs got what they asked for ......
2025-02-26T20:14-0500 | Comment by: Faith
Those who say "they got what they deserved "are nothing but p.o.s." I'm convicted felon and will back an officer in a min. We know that the crimes we commit are illegal and could go to jail and if we didn't do anything wrong they would have no reason to arrest us. That's why they have laws. To protect others from people like us. Don't ask for police to help and investigate when someone in your family gets killed. Bet you would be blaming the cops if they shot the suspect. People like you need to be slapped stupider than you already are.
2025-02-27T10:45-0500 | Comment by: Mark
Some of the comments I have read are discussing and when the day comes that you need a policer I hope there are not any available. Shame of you. Policing in todays world is a very dangerous occupation. Enen in what seems to be a very safe city. Some blame training as to blame here. Nonsense. Training is an absolute necessity and one could never get enough. Scenarios should be practiced over and over until the officers reactions are almost automatic. But there are so many things that can happen that this practice could not be obtained. Training by police departments are very expensive. These two police officers were still very early in their careers and the best training is the experience they learn in the field. I spent a career as a police officer in Miami and found myself in similar situations.. Thank God I survived them. In this situation I find there is only one person to blame and that is the scumbag who pulled the trigger. Something else to consider is were these officers afraid of being charged with police brutality? I belief that once this thug began to fight he should have had his clock cleaned, knocked out. He they had maybe we could have avoided having two families devistated.
2025-02-28T00:32-0500 | Comment by: James
There AIN'T an AMERICAN among the lot of you pansies .... TOO STUPID to see that pigs are running violation of the LAW of THIS country ........ FOOLS .......