The following statement is released by Martin Culbreth, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office:

The FBI’s role in the criminal investigation of the Virginia Beach mass shooting that occurred on May 31, 2019, has been to assist the Virginia Beach Police Department by providing investigative support as requested by the department. At the request of the police department, the FBI conducted numerous victim/witness interviews, a digital forensic analysis of the shooter’s work computer, and the forensic crime scene investigation and evidence recovery operation in Municipal Center Building 2.

The FBI did not seize and does not possess a personal laptop computer owned by the perpetrator of the mass shooting. The FBI is not aware of the existence of a personal laptop computer belonging to the shooter.

The FBI obtained the shooter’s city-owned work computer during the evidence collection process and immediately created a mirrored digital image of the hard drive, which contained the contents of the computer. The FBI provided the image containing the contents of the work computer to the Virginia Beach Police Department on June 1, 2019, for investigation. It was the only computer tower collected by the FBI.