VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Four Virginia Beach police officers received the Congressional Badge of Bravery Friday in recognition for their service in responding to the mass shooting at the city's municipal center in 2019.
The four Virginia Beach police officers are Detective Sergeant Peter Koepp, Detective Sergeant Mark Laino, Master Police Officer Christopher Watkins, and Master Police Officer Bobby Meis.
“If we can take these medals away and bring all those victims back, we would in a heartbreak,” explained Officer Meis.
Twelve people died and five others were injured when a gunman opened fire inside Building 2 at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center.
Final reports from the FBI and Virginia Beach Police Department were unable to find a motive. In an assessment of the mass shooting, the FBI said the gunman responsible purposely isolated himself from people to hide his intentions.
All four officers said they did a job that they signed up to do.
Sergeant Laino said, “You look at it and you've said you wanted to become a police officer, the vast majority of people on the interview panel said, 'I want to go into my community and help people.' Well, it's on days like this that you got to put your money where your mouth is.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria joined state and city leaders to honor the Virginia Beach police officers at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts.
“It is one of the highlights of my policing career, to honor four officers who exemplify the best of our profession, ” said Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate.
Detective Sergeant Peter Koepp currently works in the homicide unit and received Virginia Beach’s Blue Star Medal of Valor, which is a significant incident award.
Detective Sergeant Mark Laino served four years in the United States Marine Corps and currently works in the detective bureau as a robbery squad supervisor.
Master Police Officer Christopher Watkins graduated from the Virginia Beach Police SWAT School and works in patrol and explosives.
Master Police Officer Bobby Meis is part of the special operation division and is currently assigned as a K-9 handler in the special ops division.
All four officers say, while they are thankful for the honor, they are just glad they could help save lives.
“We greatly appreciate it. But, you know the still tragic day that changed our community forever, ” explained Sergeant Koepp.
Officer Watkins said, “I'm just glad that we were all able to serve our community best that we could that none of us want to be here.”
To receive the Badge of Bravery, a police officer has to be nominated. The submissions are reviewed by the Department of Justice. Officials say only 208 police officers have received this award since 2008.
To be nominated for the Congressional Badge of Bravery, the police officer must have gotten hurt while working, or if they didn't get injured, performed an act of bravery that put the officer at risk.