Ryan Keith Cox

Ryan Keith Cox died saving several coworkers from assault, Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 31, 2019. City employees who were inside the second-floor public-utilities department in a municipal building sought safety as a municipal engineer, armed with a handgun fitted with a suppressor, shot two men outside then entered the building and continued shooting people as he moved among floors. Inside the department, attempting to flee, a group of several employees encountered a coworker, Cox, 50, account clerk, in a hall about the time the assailant was leaving another second-floor department and entered a public hall. Cox instructed the group to enter the nearest office and barricade themselves inside. While the coworkers encouraged Cox to secure himself in the office with them, he forfeited the option, telling them he had to help others. After the door was closed, the coworkers moved a file cabinet against it. Shortly, the assailant arrived outside that office, shot Cox in the upper body, and shot at the door, striking the file cabinet. The assailant continued shooting people on the upper floors until responding police located him on the second floor, where they, ultimately, wounded and apprehended him; he died that evening. Authorities safely evacuated the coworkers who sheltered inside the office. Cox was among 12 people who died; four others who were shot were critically injured.

Obituary

Ryan Keith Cox, 50, died May 31, 2019.

He graduated from Princess Anne High School and furthered his education by completing a Bachelor’s degree in business with an accounting specialty from St. Leo University, Florida. Ryan worked as an accounting clerk for the city of Virginial Beach for 12.5 years. He was a member of the New Hope Baptist Church, Anointed Voices, Men of Hope, the Male Chorus, and the Men’s Ministry. Ryan loved sports, reading, and studying the Bible.

He is survived by his parents, Pastor E. Ray Cox, Sr., and Maxine Mills Cox; two brothers, Tony F. Mills and Ervin Ray Cox, Jr.; and a host of other relatives and friends.