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Police have identified five of the six victims killed during a mass shooting at a Virginia Walmart Tuesday, hours after naming the disgruntled manager who carried out the killing.
In a press release Wednesday evening, the City of Chesapeake identified five of the deceased victims as Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, and Tyneka Johnson.
The sixth deceased victim was a 16-year-old boy, the city said. His name and photo were withheld due to his age.
Earlier in the day, the city identified the shooter as 31-year-old store manager Andre Bing, who opened fire in the breakroom of the Walmart in Sam’s Circuit, Chesapeake, at 10.12pm.
A total of 14 employees had been gathered there for a pre-shift meeting, police said, with local outlets reporting Bing had a list of the names of people he wished to target. It is not yet clear if any of the victims were on the list reportedly found by authorities on Bing’s person.
Bing, an overnight worker described as a loner by those who knew him, shot 10 people in total before turning the gun on himself.
Police have identified five of the six victims killed during a mass shooting at a Virginia Walmart Tuesday, hours after naming the disgruntled manager who carried out the killing. The sixth deceased victim was a 16-year-old boy, the city said. His name and photo were withheld due to his age
Andre Bing, 31, is the shooter from yesterday’s Walmart rampage. Police released this photo on Wednesday. They have not confirmed whether he had a criminal record
The release naming the victims said: ‘The City of Chesapeake has always been known as the ‘City That Cares’ and now, more than ever, we know our City will show up and care for those who need it most.’
It added that ‘the sixth victim is a 16-year old male resident of Chesapeake whose name and photo are being withheld at the time due to him being a minor.’
‘Please join us in praying for the family and friends of these community members who we have lost.’
Tributes to the victims from mourning family members started to surface Wednesday as well.
The mother of slain staffer Lorenzo Gamble, 43, lamented how her son, who worked at the store for 15 years and was set to transfer to another location, had left behind a family of his own.
‘My quiet baby Lorenzo is gone,’ the mourning mom wrote in a post to Facebook Wednesday morning.
‘He worked there for 15 years, he was going transfer to Grassfield.
‘Now his sons is loss [sic] without him.’
The boyfriend of Kellie Pyle, identified Wednesday by DailMail.com as Brian Baker, shared a heartfelt post remembering his partner.
‘Until we see each other again my angel,’ a caption for the tribute read.
Aside from the six casualties, police said that an additional four people who had been in the breakroom at the time of shooting remained hospitalized Wednesdya morning. At least six people in total were transported to hospitals for treatment. Police have yet to confirm that all of the targeted individuals were workers at the Walmart.
The mother of slain staffer Lorenzo Gamble, 43, lamented how her son, who worked at the store for 15 years and was set to transfer to another location, had left behind a family of his own
The boyfriend of Kellie Pyle, identified by DailMail.com as Brian Baker, shared a post Wednesday remembering his partner
Earlier in the day, the city identified the shooter as Bing, who Walmart brass in a statement revealed was an ‘overnight team lead’ and had been employed with the company since 2010.
Police said Bing had been ‘armed with one handgun and had multiple magazines on his person,’ with the mayhem culminating with the shooter killing himself before he could be apprehended by police.
There were 50 people inside the store at the time of the shooting, likely finishing some last-minute Thanksgiving errands.
Bing opened fire in the breakroom at the back of the store. He shot ten people before killing himself.
When police searched his body, they found a list of names that contained the names of the colleagues he wished to target, according to local Virginia outlet WAVY, citing an anonymous source.
Two of the victims were found next to Bing in the breakroom when police arrived, and a third was found at the front of the store.
Three others were taken to the hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries.
Four people are still in the hospital with unspecified injuries.
Former colleagues today described Bing as ‘weird’ and revealed he was so paranoid about being watched by the government that he taped over the camera on his phone.
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Bing, 31, is shown in a video filmed by a colleague in 2016. He was described by colleagues as ‘weird’ and ‘nasty’ with an attitude
Police at the scene of the shooting on Wednesday morning. The FBI has joined the investigation
Police cordon off the shooter’s car in the parking lot of the Chesapeake Walmart in Virginia. Colleagues described him as being ‘weird’ and ‘paranoid’ with a ‘nasty attitude’
The shooter’s home in Chesapeake. It was raided on Wednesday morning as cops continued to investigate his motive
Law enforcement work the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, in Chesapeake, Va. A store employee shot six people dead then killed himself last night in a pre-Thanksgiving rampage
A member of the FBI works at the scene of a mass shooting at the Walmart Supercenter in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA, 23 November 2022
A member of the FBI works at the scene of a mass shooting at the Walmart Supercenter in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA, 23 November 2022
Tyneka Johnson, 22, is among the six people shot dead by a Walmart gunman in Chesapeake last night At 10.10pm last night, the shooter opened fire in a break room of the store. It’s unclear if the rampage was contained to the break room or if he ventured into the store
It remains unclear if he legally owned his handgun or the ‘multiple’ rounds of ammunition he brought with him. Police say he was dressed in ‘civilian’ clothing, and was not wearing any kind of protective vest.
‘Everyone called him weird. That was all anyone could say about Andre,’ Shaundrayia Reese, who previously worked with him, told The New York Times.
Jalon Jones, 24, was among those shot. He is in the hospital today in stable condition
She added that he had a ‘nasty attitude’ – something other staff also complained about.
‘He had an attitude. He was kind of aggressive.
‘There were moments where he was OK, but he was definitely hard to work with and a little hostile,’ Nathan Sinclair, who also used to work with him, said.
Every night, Bing hosted a meeting in the store room where he would assign tasks to the team for that night.
He would then typically go home.
‘He was the type of guy who said, “I go to work and go home, I don’t have social life,’ Josh Johnson said.
A Walmart spokesman told DailyMail.com: ‘The alleged shooter has been identified as Andre Bing.
‘We can confirm that he was a Walmart associate. Andre’s position with the company was overnight team lead and he’s been employed with us since 2010.’
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a LinkedIn statement of his own: ‘The devastating news of last night’s shooting at our Chesapeake, VA store at the hands of one of our associates has hit our Walmart family hard. My heart hurts for our associates and the Chesapeake community who have lost or injured loved ones. We are here for them today and in the challenging days ahead they will have our support.
‘We appreciate all of our associates, first responders, and local officials who are already on site helping offer support as we work together to navigate this tragedy.’
The gunman opened fire in the break room which is in the back of the store at around 10.12pm. The first 911 calls came in at 10.12pm and cops were at the scene at 10.14pm. They entered the store at 10.16pm, by which time the gunman had killed himself
Briana Tyler, who survived the shooting, describes how the gunman opened fire within minutes of the night team turning up for their shift
Tyler said she narrowly avoided being shot, and that the gunman’s bullet missed her head by an ‘inch’
Chesapeake Police Chief Mark G. Solesky, right, and Public Information Officer Leo Kosinski, left, speak at a press conference for the Walmart shooting at the Chesapeake Public Safety Operations Center on Wednesday Nov. 23, 2022
Survivors on Wednesday shared harrowing details of how the gunman was known to be problematic among staff.
Briana Tyler, who had worked at the store for two months, told Good Morning America that he was the one to ‘look out for’.
‘There was always something going on with him just having an issue with someone but I never expected it would get to this level. He was the manager that everybody had something to say about.’ Witnesses also described seeing some bodies being carried out in shopping carts.
Jeromy Basham, who had been shopping, told The New York Times he saw at least one body being carried out in a cart. Two of the victims died in the hospital.
‘As soon as my team lead said, ‘”all right, we have a light night tonight,” I looked up and my manager just opened the door and he just opened fire.’
‘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.
‘He didn’t say a word, he didn’t say anything at all…
‘He just came around the corner and started shooting,’ Briana Tyler told Good Morning America.
Others tell a different story of a targeted, planned attack in which the gunman deliberately killed other managers.
Employee Jessie Wilczewski said she was hiding under a table when the gunman looked ‘right at her’ and told her to go home.
‘It didn’t even look real until you could feel the … ‘pow-pow-pow,’ you can feel it.
A makeshift memorial in the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter where a mass shooting took place in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA, 23 November 2022
‘I couldn’t hear it at first because I guess it was so loud, I could feel it.’ One witness who survived the shooting told local Virginia outlet WAVY that the shooter had ‘issues’ with other managers in the store, which led her to believe the attack was ‘planned’.
President Biden issued a statement on Wednesday morning, condemning the shooting and repeating his call for stricter gun laws. He has repeatedly called for a ban on assault rifles.
On Wednesday morning, police raided the shooter’s three-bedroom home in Chesapeake, which is around three miles from the store.
‘Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, one of our most cherished holidays that brings us together as Americans and as families, when we hug our loved ones and count our blessings.
‘But because of yet another horrific and senseless act of violence, there are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving.
‘There are now more families who know the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable. Jill and I grieve for those families, for the Chesapeake community, and for the Commonwealth of Virginia, which just suffered a terrible shooting at the University of Virginia this month,’ he said, referring to the shooting on November 13.
The supercenter was open to the public at the time of the shooting – and cops said the Walmart may have been busy as shoppers were preparing for Thanksgiving. It was due to close at 11pm on Tuesday night.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a tweet: ‘Our hearts break with the community of Chesapeake this morning.
‘I remain in contact with law enforcement officials throughout this morning and have made available any resources as this investigation moves forward.
Shattered glass on the front door of the home in Chesapeake where the shooter lived. SWAT teams raided the property this morning
Walmart’s statement after the shooting on Tuesday night. The company has not released any other information. Governor Glenn Youngkin also released a statement
The gunman, believed to be a manager at the store, started shooting people in a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia
The shooter is understood to be dead, police said. Cops also confirmed that there were seven dead following the tragic ordeal in Walmart
Leo Kosinski with Chesapeake PD briefs the media following the mass shooting at the Walmart store
Police putting out tape after the horrific shooting at the Walmart located just off Battlefield Boulevard in Virginia
‘Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities.’
Virginia state Senator Louise Lucas, who represents that portion of Chesapeake was among the first to release a statement on the shooting.
One Walmart employee who survived (above) told his social media followers that his manager walked into the staff room and open fire on his colleagues
She said: ‘I am absolutely heartbroken that America’s latest mass shooting took place in a Walmart in my district in Chesapeake, Virginia tonight.
‘I will not rest until we find the solutions to end this gun violence epidemic in our country that has taken so many lives.’
Representative Elaine Luria posted to Twitter: ‘Enough is enough’, while Virginia senator Mark Warner said: ‘Sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake.’
Just last week, another shooting rocked the state of Virginia after three college football players died when a former player opened fire on a field trip bus.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, shot into the bus at around 10.15pm, killing three people and injuring two more.
University of Virginia students Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed in the horrific shooting.
Prosecutors told the court that Devin Chandler was sleeping when he was shot dead.
The students were returning from a field trip last Sunday when the terror unfolded.
Jones faces second-degree murder and other charges stemming from the shooting, which set off a manhunt and 12-hour campus lockdown before he was apprehended in suburban Richmond.
Jones was remanded in custody without bond and will next appear in court in December at 9.30am.
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