RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A gunman and a Virginia State Trooper are dead after the suspect open fired at a Greyhound bus station on North Boulevard in Richmond.
Virginia State Police confirm that 37-year-old Trooper Chad Phillip Dermyer died in the hospital Thursday night as a result of his gunshot wounds. Police have yet to release the suspect’s name but they say that the suspect had a criminal past.
Dermyer, a native of Jackson, Michigan, is survived by his wife and two children.
In addition to the one trooper who was shot, four other bystanders at the scene were also injured; two were shot.
According to Virginia State Police, troopers were alerted at 2:45 p.m. to a shooting incident at the Greyhound Bus Station at 2910 N. Boulevard in the City of Richmond.
The incident occurred during a VSP training exercise. During the exercise, troopers were questioning passengers getting off of buses. It was at this point that an unidentified person, who was departing a bus, shot a trooper in the chest. The suspect was unprovoked.
Officials have confirmed that two troopers and one female civilian were shot and have been transported to VCU Medical Center for treatment. The shooting suspect, who was shot by a state trooper, is dead.
City officials released the following statement:
Mayor Jones has been fully briefed on the shooting incident on the Boulevard at the Greyhound Bus Station. He is in constant contact with Richmond Police Chief Al Durham. The matter is under the jurisdiction of the Virginia State Police and Richmond Police officials are fully engaged and acting in a supporting role at this time.
Mayor Jones has also made contact with Governor Terry McAuliffe and the City and State are working collaboratively to respond to this incident.
The Mayor is asking citizens to avoid the impacted area to allow law enforcement and emergency responders to function as efficiently as possible in responding to this incident and stabilizing the scene.
Greyhound has also released a statement regarding the incident:
Our Richmond, Va. station is closed until further notice and we are actively working with the authorities.
Please check http://bit.ly/GHServiceAlert for updates for when service will begin again. We will re-route customers as possible and we will re-issue tickets once we resume service if you are supposed to travel to or from Richmond today.
Governor McAuliffe also weighed in:
Governor Terry McAuliffe released the following statement on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s response to the shooting at the Greyhound Bus Station in Richmond:
“I have spoken with the Mayor of Richmond and the Superintendent of the Virginia State Police and offered whatever state resources may be necessary to respond to this 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.”