A Walmart manager pulled out a handgun, opened fire, and killed six people inside a Walmart store in Virginia before shooting himself dead on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
The shooter, identified as 31-year-old Andre Bing, a longtime manager at a Walmart store in the US state of Virginia, pulled out his handgun and began firing wildly around the break room of the Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The shooting killed 6 people including a 16-year-old boy. After shooting the people dead, he then turned the gun on himself and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, BBC reported.
Five of the deceased victims in the shooting incident were identified as Lorenzo Gamble; Brian Pendleton; Kellie Pyle; Randall Blevins; and Tyneka Johnson. The identity of the sixth deceased victim, a 16-year-old boy, has been withheld by the authorities because he is a minor.
“He was just shooting all throughout the room. It didn’t matter who he hit. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t look at anybody in any specific type of way,” Briana Tyler, a Walmart employee, said.
“It was all happening so fast,” she said. “It is by the grace of God that a bullet missed me. I saw the smoke leaving the gun, and I literally watched bodies drop. It was crazy.”
About 50 people including customers were in the store at the time of the shooting. The overnight stocking team of 15 to 20 people at the Walmart store had just gathered in the break room to go over the morning plan when the shooting occurred. As the meeting was about to start, Bing, an overnight team leader who had been a Walmart employee since 2010, turned around and opened fire on the staff, CNN reported.
Out of the six people dead, three of the dead, including Bing, were found in the break room. Meanwhile, one of the slain victims was found near the front of the store. Three others were taken to hospitals for treatment where they succumbed to their injuries and died.
Tyler, who started working at Walmart two months ago, said she never had a negative encounter with him. However, she added that others told her he was “the manager to look out for.” She added that Bing had a history of writing people up for no reason.
Following the shooting incident, the police were trying to determine a motive behind the attack.
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