chicagotribune.com

Police: 3 wounded in Virginia bus station shooting; suspect in custody
Associated Press

Virginia State Police say two troopers responding to a shooting at a Richmond bus station and a civilian have been taken to a hospital.

Spokeswoman Corinne Geller said the shooting suspect was in custody Thursday afternoon. She had no details on the condition of the troopers or the civilian. It was not clear if the three had been shot or had received other injuries.

Broadcast images showed numerous police cars and heavily armed officers at the scene.

Brendan Hamilton told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he was about to walk into the station when he heard two loud bangs, then saw flashes of light. He told the newspaper he then heard at least five more bangs. People then started to run out of the building, said Hamilton, 28, who was visiting from Baltimore.

The Greyhound Bus 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.

Associated Press


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-richmond-virginia-shooting-20160331-story.html/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/31/active-shooter-reported-at-va-greyhound-bus-station.html/
* Video 00:01:44 *

Shooter dead, police officer with 'life threatening' injuries in shooting at Greyhound bus station | Fox News

DEVELOPING: The shooter at the Richmond, Va., Greyhound bus station is dead, one state trooper has been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, and two civilians suffered non-life threatening injuries, a state police spokeswoman said Thursday.

Virgina State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said the shooter approached the trooper, who was dressed in an "identifiable" outfit before they had a conversation and the man drew a gun and opened fire.

Geller did not say if two had been shot.

State police were holding a training exercise at the time the shots rang out, WTVR adds.

"The first thing we saw were police cars flying by, then officers in riot gear running with weapons," Vincent Smith, an employee at a nearby U-Haul storage facility, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Other witnesses reported hearing as many as 10 shots.

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center confirmed that multiple patients from the shooting scene were brought to the hospital.

The bus station is three miles north of VCU's downtown Richmond campus, and across the street from The Diamond, the city's minor league baseball stadium.

State Police and RPD investigating shooting at Greyhound terminal. Boulevard closed for several hours. pic.twitter.com/fRIJIbC0jP
— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) March 31, 2016

Greyhound said in a service advisory on its website that the bus station will be closed until further notice, and that service in and out of Richmond has been canceled.

Greyhound added that it will re-route customers where possible.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement Wednesday he is offering whatever state resources "may be necessary" to respond to the situation.

"Our public safety team and I will continue to monitor the situation and support State Police and local authorities in their response and investigation of this incident." he said.

Virginia state trooper, gunman killed in shooting at Greyhound bus station | Fox News

A Virginia state trooper and gunman are dead after a shootout at a Greyhound bus terminal in Richmond Thursday that wounded two others, state police said.

Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. Steven Flaherty said Trooper Chad Dermyer, 37, was shot multiple times near the restrooms of the building.

Flaherty said investigators don't know what sparked the shooting. Dermyer had been participating with about a dozen other troopers in a training exercise at the bus station when a brief encounter with the gunman quickly turned violent, he said.

Dermyer was dressed in a fatigue-style uniform and was not wearing a protective vest, the superintendent said.

"We've got a lot of evidence to sift through," Flaherty said. The evidence, he said, included bags that could have belonged to the gunman.

The gunman's identity was being withheld until his family could be notified.

Two civilians were hurt in the incident, though it was not clear if they had been shot, according to Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

"The first thing we saw were police cars flying by, then officers in riot gear running with weapons," Vincent Smith, an employee at a nearby U-Haul storage facility, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Other witnesses reported hearing as many as 10 shots.

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center confirmed that multiple patients from the shooting scene were brought to the hospital.

The bus station is three miles north of VCU's downtown Richmond campus, and across the street from The Diamond, the city's minor league baseball stadium.

State Police and RPD investigating shooting at Greyhound terminal. Boulevard closed for several hours. pic.twitter.com/fRIJIbC0jP
— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) March 31, 2016

Vincent Smith told the Associated Press he was working next door to the Greyhound station when he heard sirens and saw police cars buzzing by.

"The police units just poured in like a river," said Smith, who works at the U-Haul Moving and Storage facility. "I went to the end of the lot and there must have been 30 units just a block away."

Smith said he saw police officers carrying shields and assault weapons. An officer came by and ordered him and his co-workers to stay inside and lock the doors until they're told it was safe again. By late afternoon, he said he had been locked inside for about an hour and a half.

Najee Wilson, 18, of Newark, New Jersey, told the AP his bus was pulling up to the station when he heard three gunshots and saw people running out of the building.

"We heard a lot of people screaming," Wilson said. "It definitely was a scary experience."

Wilson, who was en route to Atlanta, was among about 200 travelers waiting to board buses at a staging area set up a few blocks from the bus station after the shooting.

Greyhound said in a service advisory on its website that the bus station will be closed until further notice, and that service in and out of Richmond has been canceled.

Greyhound added that it will re-route customers where possible.

Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told Fox News that agents from its Richmond field office are on scene at the bus station to assist authorities in the investigation of the shooting there.

Fox News was also told by an official that the FBI’s Richmond field office is also assisting in a support capacity, while the Virginia State Police is leading the investigation.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement Wednesday he is offering whatever state resources "may be necessary" to respond to the situation.

"Our public safety team and I will continue to monitor the situation and support State Police and local authorities in their response and investigation of this incident." he said.

City Councilwoman Reva Trammell called it "the saddest day in the city of Richmond."

"State troopers doing their job and innocent people shot," she said. "Why? This was a senseless act."



http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/31/virginia-state-trooper-gunman-killed-in-shooting-at-greyhound-bus-station.html/
* Video & Embedded Links *

Trooper killer was from a Chicago suburb with a long record and anger at police

Trooper killer was from a Chicago suburb with a long record and anger at police

WTVR.com ^ | 4/1/16
Mark Holmberg

Posted on 04/01/2016 5:47:24 AM PDT by IChing

RICHMOND, Va. -- Why?

Why did the shooter open fire as soon as state Trooper Chad P. Dermyer approached him at Richmond's Greyhound bus station?

Why did he keep shooting and fighting till the end, as state police superintendent Col. Steven Flaherty described Thursday night?

Why was he in Richmond?

An official source identified the shooter as 34-year-old James Brown III of Aurora, Illinois.

CBS 6 found a James Brown III., an African-American with a long criminal history in Aurora, whose date of birth matches up with the information from our source.

Brown is well known to police there.

We talked to his aunt in Aurora, Edith Brown, who had helped raise Brown and had allowed him to stay with her until December, when she says she told him he had to leave.

She said, "He always liked the criminal side."

She was upset about what happened, but not surprised.

"He had a lot of anger about the police in the past," she said. "He pretty much thought he wanted to be infamous . . . in terms of having a showdown. He always praised those people who got into shootouts with police."

Court records show James Brown III had been charged with murder, intent to kill, aggravated battery with a firearm, failure to obey police, resisting a corrections officer, aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, aggravated battery of an unborn child, numerous drug charges, intimidation, domestic battery, felony possession of a weapon, among many driving charges.

We were unable to obtain a booking photo, and it's unclear how many charges he was ultimately convicted of and imprisoned for over the years.

Edith Brown talked with us by phone as police were on their way to her home to talk about what happened.

She said her nephew vowed that his prison days were over.

"He said he would never go back to prison again," she said. "He would fight it out with them."

James Brown III was declared dead soon after arriving at VCU Medical Center.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3416347/posts/

http://wtvr.com/2016/04/01/trooper-killer-was-from-a-chicago-suburb-with-a-long-record-and-anger-at-police/ * Videos & Pics *