A Virginia State trooper who was shot multiple times at a Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Va., Thursday has died from his injuries, according to Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. Steven Flaherty.
Trooper Chad Dermyer, 37, was shot after approaching the suspect as part of "specialized criminal interdiction training," in which officers engage with individuals they identify as suspect. According to Flaherty, shortly after Dermyer approached the suspect, the gunman drew his weapon and began firing. Two troopers nearby returned fire and hit the suspect, who later died from his injuries.
"Why he reacted, why he had a gun in his waistband, we don't know," Flaherty said.
Police said two civilians were also shot at the terminal and are expected to recover.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Dermyer was a "Marine Corps veteran and native of Jackson, Mich., who graduated from the state police academy in 2014 and had been transferred to a counter-terrorism and criminal interdiction unit after serving on patrol in the Newport News and Hampton areas." It adds that he was married with two children.
Flaherty said the suspect's identity was not being released.
Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said earlier that all the victims were treated at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.
Geller said police were alerted to the incident at 2:45 p.m and that the investigation "remains ongoing."
The Times-Dispatch reported:
"Brendan Hamilton, 28, who is visiting Richmond from Baltimore, said he was about to walk into the Greyhound bus station at about 2:50 p.m. when he heard two loud bangs and then started seeing flashes of light along with about five to 10 more banging noises.
" 'People began running out of nearly all of the doors of the building,' Hamilton said."
The Associated Press says that the Greyhound station is "located west of the city's downtown area, across from Richmond's minor league baseball stadium and within a former industrial area. It is located on a main thoroughfare connecting a residential district to the stadium and nearby restaurants."
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