VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced on Wednesday that they posthumously awarded a victim of the Virginia Beach mass shooting the Carnegie Medal.
Ryan Keith Cox, 50, was awarded the medal following his heroic acts on May 31, 2019. Cox, an account clerk, was one of the 12 people who lost their lives that day after a disgruntled employee opened fire in Building 2.
According to eyewitnesses, he helped seven colleagues change course and ensure that they were safely barricaded in an office before looking for others who might need his help. He refused their plea to come into the office with them.
Cox was fatally shot by the shooter moments later. None of the colleagues he helped into the office, were injured.
The medal, first awarded in 1904, was established by Andrew Carnegie “to recognize outstanding acts of selfless heroism performed in the United States and Canada” following a deadly mine disaster in Pittsburgh that killed 181 people.
Cox is one of 10,238 Carnegie Medals recipients since they began awarding the medal in 1904.
