Walmart worker shoots dead 6 people at Virginia store
- Police in Chesapeake said the suspect was also killed in the attack at the store bustling with Thanksgiving holiday shoppers
- Gun violence occurs at an alarming rate in the US, where more than 600 mass shootings have taken place so far in 2022
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
A Walmart employee shot dead six people at a store bustling with Thanksgiving holiday shoppers in Virginia, before turning the pistol on himself, police said on Wednesday, in the country’s second mass shooting in four days.
Four other people remained hospitalised in unknown condition following the Tuesday night rampage in the Walmart in Chesapeake, police chief Mark Solesky said.
Solesky told a news conference the gunman was believed to have died of a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” and that the motive behind the latest attack in America’s gun violence crisis was not immediately known.
It was also the second mass shooting in the state of Virginia this month: three students at the University of Virginia who played on its football team were killed on November 13 by a classmate after a field trip.
Emergency calls were first made just after 10pm (local time) on Tuesday, while the store was still open. Officers arrived in a matter of two minutes and entered the Walmart two minutes later, Solesky said.
US media reported that the gunman opened fire in a room where employees take meal breaks but the police chief said he could not confirm this.
In the hours afterwards, news footage showed a major police presence around the Walmart, which is located about 240km (150 miles) southeast of the US capital Washington.
Chesapeake police officer Leo Kosinski said officers and investigators were carefully sweeping the store and securing the area.
Joetta Jeffery told CNN she received text messages from her mother who was inside the store during the shooting. Her mother, Betsy Umphlett, was not injured.
“I’m crying, I’m shaking,” Jeffery said. “I had just talked to her about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving, then this text came in.”
02:38
Gunman held after killing 5 and injuring 25 at gay nightclub in US state of Colorado
Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, issued a statement early on Wednesday saying: “We are shocked at this tragic event.”
The company added that it was “praying for those impacted, the community and our associates. We’re working closely with law enforcement, and we are focused on supporting our associates.”
“There are now more families who know the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable,” Biden said.
Virginia state Senator Louise Lucas, who represents the Chesapeake region, said she was “absolutely heartbroken that America’s latest mass shooting took place … in my district.”
“I will not rest until we find the solutions to end this gun violence epidemic in our country that has taken so many lives,” she said on Twitter.
“Tragically, our community is suffering from yet another incident of senseless gun violence just as families are gathering for Thanksgiving,” tweeted US congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia.
The incident occurred three nights after a gunman in Colorado, in the country’s Rocky Mountain west, opened fire inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and injuring at least 18, in what is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Authorities said the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, had used a long rifle at the club, where partygoers were marking the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which pays tribute to trans people targeted in violent attacks.
Gun violence occurs at an alarming rate in the US, where more than 600 mass shootings have occurred so far in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.
