Walmart Chesapeake shooting – latest: Teenager among six ‘targeted’ by suspect Andre Bing in Virginia rampage

A Walmart employee has claimed that the coworker who allegedly carried out a horror mass shooting at the store in Chesapeake, Virginia, had “issues” with some of their other colleagues and was “laughing” as he opened fire on his victims.

The gunman, who has since been named as Andre Bing, carried out the attack with a pistol before turning the gun on himself, police said.

A witness, who was not named, told local network 10 On Your Side that the shooting unfolded when 14 employees were sitting in a meeting room about to go on shift.

Rachel Sharp has more details.

Fernando Chavez Jr, 16, was among the six people fatally shot inside a Walmart department store in Chesapeake, Virginia on Tuesday night.

Over a hundred friends and family of the teenager gathered at the Sam’s Circle Walmart yesterday to remember him in a vigil.

“Fernando was such a nice kid, he would say hi to anybody,” Joshua Trejo, his friend since middle school told The Virginian Pilot.

Andre Bing, a 31-year-old from Chesapeake, is accused of opening fire inside the break room of the store on Sam’s Circle at around 10pm on Tuesday.

Six Walmart employees were killed in the attack, the motive for which remains unclear but surviving employees have claimed that he had “issues” with other staff members.

Walmart confirmed the gunman’s name in a statement to The Independent on Wednesday morning. Police made their official confirmation hours later.

Police in Chesapeake, Virginia, said they spent Thanksgiving Day examining why Walmart supervisor Andre Bing fatally shot his six co-workers before turning the gun on himself.

“We are actively looking into a motive right now and we want to make sure we get it right before we release it,” said Leo Kosinski, spokesperson for Chesapeake Police Department.

Night shift team leader Andre Bing walked into the break room where 14 employees were meeting shortly after 10pm and opened fire with a pistol. He then turned the gun on himself.

Those killed were Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, and Tyneka Johnson. The sixth victim, a 16-year-old boy from Chesapeake, has not been publicly named as he is a minor.

At least six other surviving victims were taken to local hospitals for further treatment, with three still hospitalised as of Wednesday morning.

Here’s what we know about those whose lives were snatched away shortly before Thanksgiving.

Oliver O’Connell has the full report.

President Joe Biden denounced the proliferation of semi-automatic weapons and the fact that some areas of the country did not enforce so-called “red flag laws” meant to prevent people who posed a danger to themselves and others.

Mr Biden made the remarks on Thanksgiving in Nantucket after delivering pumpkin pies to firefighters. The president’s remarks came after a mass shooting in Colorado Springs killed five people at Club Q, a gay bar, and a shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, left six dead.

“The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick,” he told reporters.

“Just sick. It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”

Hundreds of people gathered in a vigil to pay tribute to a 16-year-old victim of the Walmart shooting in Chesapeake, Virginia, who was identified by authorities.

Fernando Chavez Jr, known to family and friends as Fernando Jesus Chavez was killed on Tuesday, along with five other victims.

A crowd gathered at the Sam’s Circle Walmart on Thursday to pay tribute to the teenager who family and friends described as “humble and intelligent”.

Maroosha Muzaffar reports.

The incident unfolded just after 10pm on Tuesday at the superstore on Sam’s Circle.

It comes just days before Thanksgiving when shoppers were likely stocking up on goods ahead of the holiday season.

Rachel Sharp has the latest information.

The death toll from the mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, is likely to climb as a 23-year-old store worker is expected to have his life support machine switched off.

Blake Williams is currently fighting for his life on a ventilator and is unable to breathe on his own after he was shot by alleged gunman and coworker Andre Bing in Tuesday night’s massacre.

A TikToker has raised more than $172,000 to give to a Walmart employee so that she will be able to pay off her mortgage and retire.

Devan Bonagura, who goes by the username @dbon973_ on the app, captured the attention of TikTok users when he shared a 15-second video of an elderly Walmart employee named Nola.

In a clip Bonagura shared on 3 November, he filmed Nola, who was wearing a Walmart employee vest and nametag, staring down at her lap as she sat in the break room at the Walmart where he said she works.

“Life shouldn’t be this hard…” Bonagura wrote in a text caption on the short video, before adding in the caption: “I feel bad.”

Chelsea Ritschel has more details.