A gunman shot and killed six people and wounded six others in a shooting at a Walmart store manager in the US state of Virginia.
Workers were called to a busy Chesapeake branch after a gunman opened fire on co-workers inside the office. Officials said he turned the gun on himself and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
There is no apparent motive for the shooting. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.
Police said the shooter was 31-year-old Andre Bing. They said he had a gun and several magazines.
Walmart said he was a “night shift manager” who had worked there since 2010. “We are committed to doing everything we can to support our friends and their families,” the company said.
Of the six injured, two are known to be in critical condition, while one is in stable condition. The first police were called at 10:12 pm local time on Tuesday (03:12 GMT Wednesday), and police arrived at the mall within two minutes.
They entered the room a short time later, and the place was declared unsafe about an hour later as soon as the 50 people inside and all the victims were eliminated. Processing the crime scene may take several days, Police Chief Mark Solesky told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the investigation is being conducted with the assistance of the FBI.
Shooting at Lumberton Walmart in the US state of Virginia
An eyewitness – wearing Walmart clothing – described the incident in a video shared on social media shortly after the attack. He said he left the office, which a colleague entered before quickly opening fire.
“I looked over, and my manager opened the door, and he just opened the fire,” Walmart employee Briana Tyler told ABC’s Good Morning America. Jessie Wilczewski told WAVY-TV that she hid under the table when filming began.
The store clerk said the shooter pointed a gun at her and told her to leave. “It doesn’t even seem real until you see the pow-pow-pow. You can see it,” he said
“I couldn’t hear it at first because I thought it was too loud. I could see it.”
Several officials told CNN that the manager had already demonstrated misconduct and expressed concern that the government was watching him. On Wednesday, police named the suspects Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, and Tyneka Johnson.
A 16-year-old boy was also killed, but police are withholding his name due to his age. Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, meanwhile, ordered flags flown at half-mast to mark the tragedy.
“We will have time to react and understand better but today is the time to support these families who are facing the unimaginable,” he said. President Joe Biden described the attack as “another horrific and senseless act of violence.”
“I’ve signed the biggest gun revolution in a generation, but it’s not enough. We need to do more,” he said.
The incident comes days after a gunman opened fire at an LGBT club in the US state of Colorado, killing five people and wounding 17 others. This is not the first shooting at a Walmart store. Twenty-three people were killed in 2019 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart. The shooter, accused of shooting Hispanic people, is awaiting trial.
The night manager who killed six other workers at a Walmart in Virginia and injured at least half a dozen others was identified Wednesday by the company as 31-year-old Andre Bing. Bing, who killed himself after opening fire on his co-workers on Tuesday, worked the night shift at a Walmart Supercenter in Chesapeake and was a longtime employee, the company said in a statement.
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“We can confirm that he is a member of Walmart,” the statement said. “André’s position in the company is as night operations manager, and he has been working with us since 2010.”
Chesapeake City officials also confirmed the shooter’s name on their Twitter handle and said he was armed with a gun and several magazines.
City officials said five of the victims were Wednesday: Lorenzo Gamble, 43; Brian Pendleton, 38; Kelly Pyle, 52; Randall Blevins, 70; and Tyneka Johnson, 22. A 16-year-old man was also killed, but his name has been “withheld at this time as he is a minor,” the city said.
Walmart said all of the victims were Walmart employees. Police raided the suspect’s house on Wednesday as they tried to uncover the motive behind the murder. There were about 50 people in the store when the shooting began, police said.
“It’s awesome,” Shaundraia Reese, 27, of Chesapeake, said of Bing in an interview with NBC News.
Reese said Bing was his boss at Walmart from 2014 to 2018 and would turn off his cell phone camera because he believed the government was watching him. “He never talked about anything violent,” Reese said. “Always about the government, burden, family. Something like that. “
Bing was found dead in her bedroom with two other people, the city of Chesapeake tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
Another person was found dead near the front of the store, and three other injured people were taken to a local hospital but later succumbed to their injuries, city officials said. At least six other people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, officials said. Sentara Healthcare said it had two patients in critical condition Wednesday evening. It was the deadliest grocery store shooting since May, when a white racist gunned down 10 black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, according to NBC News.
Follow live coverage of the shoot. Chesapeake Police Department Public Information Officer Leo Kosinski said, “We’re not on Thanksgiving Day.”It’s just the wrong time, suitable for everyone involved – especially the victims. Is it dangerous?