US Walmart manager kills self, 6 other employees
A manager at a Walmart Inc store in Virginia opened fire on fellow employees in a break room, killing six before turning the gun on himself, eyewitnesses said on Wednesday after the country’s latest mass shooting.
The gunman, identified as Andre Bing, 31, of Chesapeake, Virginia, said nothing as he began firing on workers gathered late on Tuesday ahead of their overnight shift, according to two employees who were in the break room.
“I just watched 3 of my coworkers/friends be killed in front of me,” Donya Prioleau wrote in a Facebook post.
“Andre killed them in cold blood … I cannot unsee what happened in that break room.”
At least four others were wounded in the attack, which took place while about 50 people were inside the store.
Chesapeake police identified the dead as Brian Pendleton, 38, Kellie Pyle, 52, Lorenzo Gamble, 43, and Randy Blevins, 70, all from Chesapeake, and Tyneka Johnson, 38, of neighboring Portsmouth. A 16-year-old boy from Chesapeake, whose name was withheld because he was a minor, was also killed.
Authorities say they were still investigating what may have motivated Bing, who came armed with a single handgun and multiple magazines of ammunition. The city said its SWAT team had executed a search warrant at his house.
“Detectives are working to learn more about the shooter’s background and what may have motivated the shooting,” the city said in a statement.
Another Walmart employee, Briana Tyler,said: “I looked up and my manager just opened the door and he just opened fire.”
Several co-workers of Bing said he had exhibited strange and sometimes threatening behavior in the past. He also made paranoid comments, expressing concerns the government was monitoring him, according to interviews.
‘Yet another…’
Coming on the heels of the killing of five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub on Saturday, the latest massacre prompted a renewed round of condemnations by public officials and calls by activists for tighter gun control.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called the shooting “yet another horrific and senseless act of violence,” noting a shooting earlier this month that killed three University of Virginia students.
“There are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving,” Biden said in a statement.
Bing worked for the company since 2010, most recently as an overnight team leader at the cavernous Walmart Supercenter just off Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake, a city of about 250,000 residents just south of Norfolk.
