VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — A routine traffic stop turned into a bloodbath late Friday night, leaving two Virginia Beach police officers dead, a pregnant widow in tears, and a city grappling with its first cop shooting in nearly 17 years. Officers Cameron Girvin, 25, and Christopher Reese, 30, didn’t stand a chance against a gunman who opened fire without warning—and then turned the gun on himself.
It unfolded just before 11:30 p.m. on February 21, 2025, near Lynnhaven Parkway in the Green Run neighborhood. Girvin and Reese pulled over a blue Hyundai Sonata with expired tags on South Rosemont Road. The driver, 42-year-old John McCoy III, didn’t stop right away, leading the officers on a short chase to a dead-end on Sylvan Court. What happened next was chillingly swift. Body cam and dashcam footage captured McCoy refusing orders to exit, pulling a gun from his pocket, and unloading on both officers. As they lay defenseless, he allegedly fired again—execution-style.
Reese clung to life until just after midnight at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital. Girvin fought until 4:30 a.m. at Sentara Virginia Beach General. Surrounded by loved ones, both slipped away, leaving behind shattered families. Girvin’s wife, Jessica, pregnant with their first child—a girl due in August—posted a gut-wrenching goodbye online: “My hero, gone too soon.” Reese’s loss hit just as hard, with colleagues calling him “the best of us.”
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Cops tracked McCoy to a nearby shed by 12:10 a.m., finding him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. A felon since 2009, he had no business with a firearm, let alone a motive—yet. “Only one person knows why, and he’s gone,” said Police Chief Paul Neudigate, voice cracking at a press conference. No shots came from the officers’ side.
This marks Virginia Beach PD’s first line-of-duty shooting deaths since 2008, when Detective Michael Phillips fell in Green Run to a drug ambush. Now, a stunned force mourns again. “We’re hurting. The city’s hurting,” Neudigate said. Mayor Bobby Dyer dubbed it “a dark day,” vowing support for the fallen heroes’ families.
