Virginia Walmart mass shooting live updates: 16-year-old among victims

A man armed with a handgun shot and killed six people and injured several others in a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday night, according to police.

Survivors said the gunman walked into a break room and opened fire.

The suspect, a current employee, died at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Latest Developments

Nov 24, 3:35 PM

Walmart employee spends Thanksgiving traumatized at home

There are those in Chesapeake, Virginia, who haven't celebrated a moment of Thanksgiving. Jessie Wilczewski, who'd only been on the job at Walmart for five days, told ABC News she is still haunted by images of the shooting.

"When I sleep like it still plays, bits and pieces, so I can’t run away from it, like I had to sit there on the floor and in front of me watch my coworker have her last moments," she said, with tears in her eyes.

The shooter spared Wilczewski's life, she said. Wilczewski believes the attack was targeted and she was let go because she had not worked with the shooter long.

"I looked at him after I got up from under the table and he saw it was me. And he had the gun pointed at me [gesturing] and he went like this and put the gun up. And then he just looked at me and said, ‘Jessie go home,'" Wilczewski said.

A mom of a 15-month-old boy, Wilczewski spent her Thanksgiving traumatized at home. The shades are drawn. Too many cars on the street can terrify her. Her biggest goal since the shooting was going to 7/11, which she accomplished on Thursday.

There are countless families in Chesapeake now facing this reality, reeling from tragedy on this holiday and preparing for a holiday season that won't feel the same.

-ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Beatrice Peterson and Arthur Jones II

Nov 24, 3:29 PM

Walmart hosts Thanksgiving for store employees, families at Delta Hotel

Walmart hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for shaken store employees and their families at a Delta Hotel in Chesapeake, Virginia. Counselors and faith leaders were on hand to talk people through the shooting's immediate aftermath.

Whole families were seen going into counseling sessions together.

Six families in Chesapeake are without loved ones this Thanksgiving. Seven others have relatives in the hospital. And, countless people in the Chesapeake community are celebrating a holiday that will never be the same, after a store manager at a local Walmart opened fire on staff during a meeting Tuesday night.

-ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Beatrice Peterson and Arthur Jones II

Nov 24, 12:09 PM

2 victims remain hospitalized in critical condition

Two of the injured victims from Tuesday night's mass shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart remain hospitalized in critical condition, officials said.

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, just north of Chesapeake, is continuing "to treat two patients who remain in critical condition," a spokesperson told ABC News on Thursday.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson

Nov 24, 6:48 AM

Governor orders flags to fly at half-staff through Sunday

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff over the state Capitol and all local, state and federal buildings and grounds across the commonwealth "in respect and memory of the victims of the Chesapeake shooting, their families, and the entire Chesapeake community."

"I hereby order that the flags shall be lowered immediately on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 and remain at half-staff until Sunday, November 27, 2022 at sunset," Youngkin said in a statement.

Nov 23, 7:25 PM

Victims of shooting identified

Five of the victims of the shooting have been publicly identified by Chesapeake officials as Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins and Tyneka Johnson.

The name of the sixth victim -- a 16-year-old boy -- has not been released due to his age.

Nov 23, 7:14 PM

'He had a real big heart': Mother of victim Brian Pendleton

Brian Pendleton, one of the six people killed in the shooting, would have turned 39 next week, his mother said in an emotional phone interview Wednesday.

"He had a real big heart," his mother, Michelle Johnson, said. "Anybody that wanted to laugh, or just want company, he'd buy you lunch. He'd buy you anything in a minute."

Pendleton worked at the Walmart for nearly 11 years as a custodian and "loved his job," she said.

"He was just a hard worker and a good kid," she said.

When a family friend called and told her there had been a shooting at his Walmart, Johnson's husband went to where families had been told to convene for reunification. He was told Brian had been transferred to Norfolk General Hospital, so Johnson and her husband drove there, she said.

"We waited, and then the police came out with a nurse and they took us to a side room and that's when they told us that he didn't make it," Johnson said, choking up.

"That's when they said that he didn't make it," Johnson said, sobbing. "I just wondered, was he afraid at that time? I know my son. I didn't want him to be afraid, and I didn't want him to hurt."

Pendleton had a condition called congenital hydrocephalus. Johnson has it too, she said, but they had both been "blessed" not to have a severe case.

"We're fighters, and we trust the Lord," she said.

This was Pendleton's favorite time of year, with Thanksgiving and his birthday on Dec. 2, said Johnson.

"I don't understand why, what happened, happened," she said.

"I will never go near that Walmart again," she added.

-ABC News' Sasha Pezenik

Nov 23, 8:06 PM

'We will get through this together': Chesapeake mayor

Chesapeake Mayor Rick West offered words of support in a brief video statement Wednesday evening.

"I know this community, and I know it well, and I know that we will come together and lend a helping hand to the victims' families," West said. "We'll share this burden together and we'll be stronger for it."

The mayor promised to share more information on the incident.

"Until then, please know that we will get through this, and we will get through this together, and we will never forget those that we have lost," he said.

Nov 23, 3:30 PM

50 people in Walmart at the time, motive remains unknown

At least 50 people were believed to be in a Chesapeake, Virginia, Walmart when a gunman opened fire Tuesday night, Chesapeake police said.

Authorities are still investigating a motive and are looking into the background of the suspect, 31-year-old Andre Bing, according to police. A search warrant has been executed at Bing’s house, police said.

Bing, who died at the store of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, wasn’t wearing any type of armor or a ballistic vest, authorities said.

Police said they’re "still trying to account for anyone who may have been at the store and witnessed the incident, but fled prior to police arrival." Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI.

The Walmart is expected to be closed for several days, police added.

Nov 23, 2:22 PM

Gunman didn't say anything, just 'started shooting'

Walmart employee Briana Tyler said she was with her co-workers in the break room around 10 p.m. when the gunfire broke out.

"My manager just opened the door and he just opened fire," Tyler told ABC News. "He wasn't aiming at anybody specifically. He just literally started shooting throughout the entire break room and I watched multiple people just drop down to the floor, whether they were trying to duck for cover or they were hit."

Tyler said the gunman looked "directly at" her and fired, but "luckily missed" her head by "an inch or two."

"He didn't say a word, he didn't say anything at all," she said. "He just came around the corner and started shooting. The first person that was in his eyesight, he shot him down.”

In another interview with ABC News later on Wednesday, she said the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Andre Bing, "was quiet and to himself" and "gave off ... the loner type."

"I've never once had, like, a joyous, fun conversation with him. It was always about work and that was it," she explained. "With everybody else, you know, a lot of people will, they laugh, they joke, I have other supervisors that I can, you know, talk to casually. But with him ... he wasn't like the fun, bubbly type of person."

Tyler, 28, is a mom to a 4-year-old son.

She said the shooting “taught me that life can literally be taken from you at the blink of an eye,” even when “doing something as innocently as trying to go to work.”

“So I would just say just reach out to the ones you love, keep an open relationship with them, do your best … because at the end of the day, you genuinely never know when you will look your child or your mother in their eyes again,” she said.

Nov 23, 2:06 PM

Suspect ID'd as 31-year-old Walmart employee Andre Bing

The suspect was identified by city officials as 31-year-old Andre Bing of Chesapeake. Walmart said he worked at the store as an overnight team lead and had been an employee since 2010.

Bing was armed with a handgun and had multiple magazines, officials said.

“We are focused on doing everything we can to support our associates and their families,” Walmart officials said in a statement. “We are thankful for the local first responders and will continue to work with local law enforcement as they continue their investigation.”

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