It’s been two months since the Virginia Beach mass shooting, and the scars are still healing.
Ryan Keith Cox was a public utilities account clerk for the city of Virginia Beach. On the day of the shooting at the end of May, he led others to safety and was trying to help more people when he was gunned down in a mass shooting.
Congresswoman Elaine Luria introduced a bill to name a post office in Virginia Beach in his honor.
“Keith stood watch and checked on his colleagues, voluntarily exposing himself to a deadly line of fire," she said. "One of Keith’s colleagues summed it up — if it wasn’t for him, there would have been several more people who perished.”
Luria’s bill had bipartisan support from the Virginia delegation, and from Republican Congressman Fred Keller of Pennsylvania.
“His surviving colleagues remember him as a kind, soft spoken and big teddy bear. Keith’s heroics will not be forgotten,” Keller said.
The bill has passed the House and Senate, and it’s now on the way to the White House.
If the president signs it, the Ryan Keith Cox post office will be located at the Virginia Beach municipal center, steps away from the building that was the scene of the shooting.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
