Walmart supervisor opens fireplace on Virginia co-workers, killing 6 and himself By Reuters

By Jay Paul and Nathan Layne

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Reuters) -A Walmart (NYSE:) supervisor armed with a handgun and several other magazines of ammunition opened fireplace on fellow staff in a Virginia retailer, killing six folks earlier than turning the gun on himself in a break room, witnesses and police mentioned on Wednesday.

The nation’s newest mass capturing on Tuesday evening shook the city of Chesapeake, about 200 miles (320 km) south of Washington, and comes on the heels of final weekend’s bloodbath in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the place a gunman killed 5 at an LBGTQ nightclub.

The Virginia gunman, recognized as Andre Bing, 31, of Chesapeake, mentioned nothing as he started firing on employees gathered earlier than their in a single day shift, in keeping with two staff who have been within the break room, the place the rampage ended and Bing shot himself.

“I simply watched 3 of my coworkers/pals be killed in entrance of me,” Donya Prioleau wrote in a Fb (NASDAQ:) submit. “Andre killed them in chilly blood … I can not unsee what occurred in that break room.”

Police mentioned at the least three folks have been wounded within the assault, which happened whereas about 50 folks have been within the retailer, a cavernous Walmart Supercenter simply off Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake, a metropolis of about 250,000 folks.

The lifeless included a 16-year-old boy who police didn’t determine and 70-year-old Randy Blevins, who was planning to retire throughout the yr, a cousin wrote on Fb.

The others have been Kellie Pyle, 52, Lorenzo Gamble, 43, and Randy Blevins, 70, all from Chesapeake, and Tyneka Johnson, 22, of neighboring Portsmouth.

Authorities say they have been investigating what could have motivated Bing, an hourly worker who supervised an in a single day shift and had labored for the corporate since 2010. Town mentioned its SWAT staff had executed a search warrant at his home.

“I appeared up and my supervisor simply opened the door and he simply opened fireplace,” one other Walmart worker, Briana Tyler, advised ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

A number of co-workers of Bing advised CNN he had exhibited unusual and typically threatening conduct up to now. He additionally made paranoid feedback, expressing issues the federal government was monitoring him, in keeping with CNN’s interviews.

Jessie Wilczewski advised WAVY-TV she hid underneath a desk and the shooter pointed the gun at her and advised her to go dwelling.

“It did not even look actual till you can really feel the pow-pow-pow. You’ll be able to really feel it,” the shop worker mentioned. “I could not hear it at first as a result of I suppose it was so loud. I might really feel it.”

‘YET ANOTHER…’

The most recent bloodbath prompted a renewed spherical of condemnations by public officers and activist requires tighter gun management.

President Joe Biden known as the capturing “one more horrific and mindless act of violence,” noting a capturing this month that killed three College of Virginia college students.

“There at the moment are much more tables throughout the nation that can have empty seats this Thanksgiving,” Biden mentioned in a press release.

America averages two mass shootings per day, when outlined as an incident killing or injuring 4 or extra folks, in keeping with GunViolenceArchive.org.

Jessica Burgess, a surgeon who handled victims at a Norfolk hospital, mentioned she had contacted a colleague in Colorado Springs simply two days earlier to supply help.

“So it’s extremely disheartening that I am now in the identical place with my colleagues from throughout the nation checking in on me and my staff,” Burgess mentioned. “Typically there’s solely a lot we will do when the accidents have already been finished.”

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who was already dealing with stepped-up requires insurance policies to handle gun violence after the College of Virginia killings, ordered flags at native, state and federal buildings to be flown at half-staff.

Walmart, which has hundreds of shops throughout the nation, has been hit by gun violence earlier than.

In August 2019, 23 folks have been killed at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, close to the U.S.-Mexico border in an act described as home terrorism by legislation enforcement. It was additionally the deadliest assault on the Hispanic group in america in trendy occasions.

Walmart enacted new restrictions on gun and ammunition gross sales following that 2019 capturing, because it had after different shootings at its shops.

“The devastating information of final evening’s capturing at our Chesapeake, VA retailer by the hands of one in all our associates has hit our Walmart household exhausting,” Walmart Chief Govt Doug McMillon wrote in a LinkedIn submit.