A Walmart manager opened fire on fellow employees gathered in a break room in one of the chain's stores in the southern Virginia city of Chesapeaks late Tuesday, leaving six people dead and killing himself. The motive was not clear, reports the Associated Press. “I am devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place late last night in our city,” tweeted Chesapeake Mayor Rick.West. “Chesapeake is a tightknit community and we are all shaken by this news.” A database run by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University says the U.S. has had 40 mass killings so far this year, second to the 45 in all of 2019. The database defines a mass killing as at least four people killed, not including the killer.
The attack at the Walmart came three days after a man opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five people and wounding 17. Tuesday’s shooting brought back memories of another at a Walmart in 2019, when a gunman police say was targeting Mexicans opened fire at a store in El Paso, Tx, and killed 22 people.
In Chesapeake, police officer Leo Kosinski couldn’t say how the shooter died but didn’t believe police fired shots. The shooting had apparently stopped when police arrived at the store in Chesapeake, which is Virginia’s second-largest city and lies next to the seaside communities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for Sentara Healthcare, said five patients from the Walmart were being treated at Norfolk General Hospital. Walmart tweeted early Wednesday that it was “shocked at this tragic event.”