Seven people were killed at a Walmart in Virginia on Tuesday night in a shooting rampage that an employee claimed was carried out by a store manager who then turned the gun on himself.
nypost.com
At least seven dead after ‘manager’ opens fire in Virginia Walmart
By
Katherine Donlevy and
Yaron Steinbuch
November 22, 2022 11:52pm
Updated
A laughing gunman opened fire in a busy Virginia Walmart on Tuesday night — slaughtering six people in a senseless attack just days before Thanksgiving, police and witnesses said.
The shooter, believed to the store manager at the Walmart on Sam’s Circle in Chesapeake, is also dead.
In a news briefing Wednesday morning, Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said the attacker was a current employee who took his own life using a pistol.
“There is no clear motive at this time,” Solesky told reporters, adding that he had no indication that the gunman was known to law enforcement before the shooting.
The chief said he could not identify the gunman until next of kin have been notified.
Solesky also said he could not confirm whether the gunman was a manager at the store — as employees have claimed online and in interviews.
One of the workers who witnessed the slaughter
told WAVY that she heard the man on a rampage laughing at one point during the attack.
The woman, who was on her fifth day on the job, told the station that there were 14 employees in a meeting room waiting to be given their assignments for the day when gunfire erupted.
“It was wild. It was a manager — one of the managers,” an employee in a Walmart uniform said in a Facebook livestream.
The witness claimed the gunman “had issues” with other managers at the store, leading her to believe the shooting was planned.
“It didn’t even look real until you could feel the gun go off,” the witness told WAVY. “I will never go back in that store again. I cannot, I can’t even leave my front door.”
The chief said police have searched the home of the gunman, who was dead when officers went inside the Walmart.
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Police respond to the scene of a mass shooting at a Chesapeake, Va., Walmart on Nov. 22, 2022. AP
Law enforcement enter a command vehicle as they work the scene this morning. AP
Four victims from the shooting were being treated Wednesday morning at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, according to Solesky, who said their conditions were unknown.
Officers responded about 10:15 p.m. to a report of a shooting at the store, where they found multiple people dead and injured, police said.
The city said in a tweet at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday that there were seven fatalities, including the shooter.
A worker on Facebook Live recalled the horrific attack, which he said ended when the man turned the gun on himself.
“He blew his brains out and everything. He killed the girl in there and everything. He came in and started spraying. I’m sorry for the victims,” said the employee in a Walmart uniform, claiming the shooter was a manager.
“I just left the break room … the manager come in there and started capping people up in there, started shooting. Sadly, we lost a few of our associates,” the man, who has been named in reports as Kevin Harper, added as a woman was heard crying at his side.
Employee Briana Tyler said that the staffer had gathered in the break room as they typically did before their shifts.
“I looked up, and my manager just opened the door and he just opened fire,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America,” adding that “multiple people” dropped to the floor.
“He didn’t say a word, he didn’t say anything at all,” Tyler said.
The call reporting the shooting came in at 10:12 p.m. when the Walmart was still open to the public and night shift workers had just recently checked in, WAVY reported.
Solesky said police arrived two minutes later and entered the store at 10:16 p.m. At 11:20 p.m., they declared the scene safe, he said.
A greeter on duty told the news station that the shooting erupted in the back of the store. One person also was reportedly found dead outside the front entrance.
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The forensic unit responds to the mass shooting early this morning. AP
A call reporting the shooting came in soon after night-shift workers clocked in. AP
Police have not revealed how the shooter died. AP
Stunned current and former Walmart staffers told the news station that the store felt like home.
“I’ve been on the phone with a few other friends who were former employees and customers, and we’re all just in disbelief,” a former employee said Wednesday morning.
Another worker who said she was inside the store at the time of the shooting told WAVY that a teenage worker was among the victims.
Outside Norfolk General Hospital, Debra Hazlett said her brother, a longtime Walmart employee, was one of the shooting victims.
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Responding officers found multiple people dead and injured. AP
Officers responded around 10:15 p.m. to the Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, last night. AP
Authorities believe there was one attacker. AP
Chesapeake Officer Leo Kosinski doesn't believe police fired any shots. AP
She told WAVY that he called his family around 10:18 p.m. and said he’d been shot about 10 minutes after he clocked in for work.
Joetta Jeffery told CNN she received text messages from her mother, Betsy Umphlett, who was inside the store during the shooting.
“I’m crying, I’m shaking. I had just talked to her about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving, then this text came in,” said Jeffery, whose mother was not injured.
A victim’s brother was escorted out of the emergency room after he began screaming when he learned his loved one had died.
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Authorities raided this house in connection with the shooting. AP
Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said the attacker was a current employee. SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The chief said he could not identify the gunman until next of kin have been notified. SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Solesky also said he could not confirm whether the gunman was a manager at the store. SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“They killed my brother,” the man wailed as he ran away from the hospital,
the Virginian-Pilot reported.
Camille Buggs, 58, a former store employee, told the paper that she was seeking information at the Chesapeake Conference Center about her former co-workers.
“You always say you don’t think it would happen in your town, in your neighborhood, in your store — in your favorite store, and that’s the thing that has me shocked,” Buggs told the paper.
Walmart issued a statement about the shooting early Wednesday.
Officer Leo Kosinski did not say whether the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot.AP
“We are shocked at this tragic event at our Chesapeake, Virginia store,” a company rep told The Post in an email. “We’re praying for those impacted, the community and our associates. We’re working closely with law enforcement, and we are focused on supporting our associates.”
The spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the gunman was a manager.
Mayor Rick West said in a statement: “I am devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place late last night in our city. Chesapeake is a tightknit community and we are all shaken by this news.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin also expressed his sorrow.
“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,” he said in a tweet.
“Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities,” Youngkin added.
It also comes three years after a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, where a gunman who police said was targeting Mexicans killed 22 people.
US Sen. Mark Warner posted on Twitter that he is “sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake.”
State Sen. Louise Lucas also tweeted that she was “absolutely heartbroken that America’s latest mass shooting took place in a Walmart in my district.”
“Saturday Night Live” alum Jay Pharoah wrote on Instagram that the shooting “happened right down the street from my neighborhood in Chesapeake at the Walmart that my family and I have gone to for years.
“My heart is broken for those who aren’t getting a chance to come home and my condolences to the families who have to suffer through their losses,” he added.
Chesapeake, Virginia’s second-largest city, lies next to the seaside communities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
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