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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2 victims remain hospitalized in critical condition
Two of the injured victims from Tuesday night's mass shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart remain hospitalized in critical condition, officials said.
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, just north of Chesapeake, is continuing "to treat two patients who remain in critical condition," a spokesperson told ABC News on Thursday.
-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson
Governor orders flags to fly at half-staff through Sunday
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff over the state Capitol and all local, state and federal buildings and grounds across the commonwealth "in respect and memory of the victims of the Chesapeake shooting, their families, and the entire Chesapeake community."
"I hereby order that the flags shall be lowered immediately on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 and remain at half-staff until Sunday, November 27, 2022 at sunset," Youngkin said in a statement.
Victims of shooting identified
Five of the victims of the shooting have been publicly identified by Chesapeake officials as Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins and Tyneka Johnson.
The name of the sixth victim -- a 16-year-old boy -- has not been released due to his age.
'He had a real big heart': Mother of victim Brian Pendleton
Brian Pendleton, one of the six people killed in the shooting, would have turned 39 next week, his mother said in an emotional phone interview Wednesday.
"He had a real big heart," his mother, Michelle Johnson, said. "Anybody that wanted to laugh, or just want company, he'd buy you lunch. He'd buy you anything in a minute."
Pendleton worked at the Walmart for nearly 11 years as a custodian and "loved his job," she said.
"He was just a hard worker and a good kid," she said.
When a family friend called and told her there had been a shooting at his Walmart, Johnson's husband went to where families had been told to convene for reunification. He was told Brian had been transferred to Norfolk General Hospital, so Johnson and her husband drove there, she said.
"We waited, and then the police came out with a nurse and they took us to a side room and that's when they told us that he didn't make it," Johnson said, choking up.
"That's when they said that he didn't make it," Johnson said, sobbing. "I just wondered, was he afraid at that time? I know my son. I didn't want him to be afraid, and I didn't want him to hurt."
Pendleton had a condition called congenital hydrocephalus. Johnson has it too, she said, but they had both been "blessed" not to have a severe case.
"We're fighters, and we trust the Lord," she said.
This was Pendleton's favorite time of year, with Thanksgiving and his birthday on Dec. 2, said Johnson.
"I don't understand why, what happened, happened," she said.
"I will never go near that Walmart again," she added.
-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik
Walmart hosts Thanksgiving for store employees, families at Delta Hotel
Walmart hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for shaken store employees and their families at a Delta Hotel in Chesapeake, Virginia. Counselors and faith leaders were on hand to talk people through the shooting's immediate aftermath.
Whole families were seen going into counseling sessions together.
Six families in Chesapeake are without loved ones this Thanksgiving. Seven others have relatives in the hospital. And, countless people in the Chesapeake community are celebrating a holiday that will never be the same, after a store manager at a local Walmart opened fire on staff during a meeting Tuesday night.
-ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Beatrice Peterson and Arthur Jones II