The bright blue-and-yellow break room at the Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., was supposed to be a place to spend a few minutes not worrying about unloading freight, stocking shelves, collecting carts or helping customers. Two nights before Thanksgiving, the sanctuary at Walmart’s Supercenter #1841 became a killing zone. Using a semiautomatic handgun he had purchased that morning, Andre Bing, an overnight supervisor, methodically shot co-workers who had gathered for their assignments. Six would die. Four others were injured, three of them by gunfire. Bing took his own life. In the days since the rampage, some clues about what led Bing, 31, to commit the crime have emerged, prompting questions about whether Walmart did enough to identify him as a threat and take action, reports the Washington Post. Victims' family members and former employees described a workplace where complaints about Bing were ignored or dismissed and where Bing, too, felt harassed by co-workers and managers.
The most striking complaints came in a lawsuit filed by a survivor who alleges that Walmart should have known that Bing “demonstrated a pattern of disturbing behavior leading up to the shooting,” and that his actions “put Walmart on notice … that Mr. Bing was violent and could harm others.” The lawsuit from Donya Prioleau alleges that Bing asked her if she liked guns and told store employees, including managers, that if he were ever fired, he would retaliate, adding “people will remember my name.” It claims Bing repeatedly asked co-workers if they had received active shooter training, and when they responded that they had, he smiled and walked away. “To me, they saw something with Andre but they didn’t really do anything to try and stop it,” said James Credle, 19, who worked at the Walmart on Bing’s overnight team for two months earlier this year and alleged he had previously complained to the company about his boss. Walmart spokesman Charles Crowson wrote: “Simply stated, there is nothing that can justify taking innocent lives, and our focus remains on the families who are grieving and supporting our associates through this difficult time.”