Virginia Walmart mass shooting: Store to close for the 'foreseeable future'

Employees will continue to be paid, the company said.

A Virginia community is reeling after a man armed with a handgun shot and killed six people and injured several others in a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake.

Survivors said the gunman walked into a break room and opened fire on Nov. 22.

The suspect, a current employee, died at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Two victims remain in the hospital and two have been released, Walmart said Tuesday.


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Employee recounts hiding during shooting

Walmart employee Kevin Harper told ABC News he arrived to work early Tuesday night. He was sitting in the break room when he said something didn’t feel right -- so he left.

Moments later, Harper said he heard around three or four muffled gunshots and he ran into a clothes hanger to hide.

“I couldn’t tell you how long I hid in there. Time just stopped at that moment,” he said.

He said he then ran as fast as he could out of the employee entrance. On his way out, he said he saw two people on the floor, including one woman covered in blood.

“I’m just praying for my Walmart family,” Harper said.

-ABC News’ Ike Ejiochi


'Very, very proud of the response,' city manager says

Chesapeake City Manager Chris Price said Wednesday that he was "very, very proud of the response of our public safety team" after the mass shooting at a Walmart.

"You hope a day like this never comes, but you train for it," Price said during a press conference. "We practice, we talk about it, we discuss, we learn lessons from other places, we try to put those lessons to good use, hoping those lessons will never have to be put to good use."

Price described Chesapeake as a "wonderful place" where the community comes together "when times are good" and "when times are difficult."

"I know it pains all of us to be together today on this day of incredible tragedy and unimaginable sadness," he added.

Price then read a statement from Chesapeake Mayor Rick West, who tested positive for COVID-19 and could not attend the press conference.

"I am devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place late last night in our city," Price said, quoting West’s statement. "My prayers are with all those affected -- the victims, their family, their friends and their coworkers. I am grateful for the quick actions taken by our first responders who rushed to the scene. Chespeake is a tighknit community and we are all shaken by this news. Together, we will support each other throughout this time. Please keep us in your prayers."

The mayor as well as the city council have all been fully briefed on the shooting and the response, according to Price.


6 killed, 4 others injured, police say

In addition to the six victims killed, four people were wounded in Tuesday night's shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart, according to police.

"While our investigation continues we can tell you the following: six victims have died, four victims are in area hospitals with conditions unknown at this time and the suspect is dead from what we believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said during a press conference on Wednesday morning.

While police believe the suspect was a current employee of the store, Solesky would not confirm whether the victims were all employees as well. He told reporters that it’s unclear whether the shooting was a targeted or random attack.


Gunman may have been a store manager, sources say

Preliminary information indicates a gunman walked into the break room of a Chesapeake Walmart and opened fire at people before shooting himself, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The suspect was an employee of that store and, possibly, a manager, according to the sources.

Law enforcement sources also told ABC News that authorities are investigating whether the shooting was a case of workplace violence.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Josh Margolin and Pierre Thomas


Gunman didn't say anything, just 'started shooting'

Walmart employee Briana Tyler said she was with her co-workers in the break room around 10 p.m. when the gunfire broke out.

"My manager just opened the door and he just opened fire," Tyler told ABC News. "He wasn't aiming at anybody specifically. He just literally started shooting throughout the entire break room and I watched multiple people just drop down to the floor, whether they were trying to duck for cover or they were hit."

Tyler said the gunman looked "directly at" her and fired, but "luckily missed" her head by "an inch or two."

"He didn't say a word, he didn't say anything at all," she said. "He just came around the corner and started shooting. The first person that was in his eyesight, he shot him down.”

In another interview with ABC News later on Wednesday, she said the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Andre Bing, "was quiet and to himself" and "gave off ... the loner type."

"I've never once had, like, a joyous, fun conversation with him. It was always about work and that was it," she explained. "With everybody else, you know, a lot of people will, they laugh, they joke, I have other supervisors that I can, you know, talk to casually. But with him ... he wasn't like the fun, bubbly type of person."

Tyler, 28, is a mom to a 4-year-old son.

She said the shooting “taught me that life can literally be taken from you at the blink of an eye,” even when “doing something as innocently as trying to go to work.”

“So I would just say just reach out to the ones you love, keep an open relationship with them, do your best … because at the end of the day, you genuinely never know when you will look your child or your mother in their eyes again,” she said.