Six people killed in shooting at Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia
Six people have been killed in a shooting at a Walmart in Virginia, police said, in the second high-profile mass killing in the US in a handful of days. The assailant was also dead.
The City of Chesapeake confirmed the incident. It said: “Chesapeake police confirm an active shooter incident with fatalities at the Walmart on Sam’s Circle. The shooter is deceased.”
The store in Chesapeake is likely to be closed for several days while the investigation continued, a police spokesperson, Leo Kosinski, said in the early hours of Wednesday.
The Virginia shooting comes three days after a person opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five people and wounding 17. That shooter, who is nonbinary, was arrested after patrons at the club tackled them. The shootings come in a year when the US was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Tuesday night’s shooting in Chesapeake also brought back memories of another at a Walmart store in 2019, when a gunman police say targeted Mexicans opened fire at a store in El Paso and killed 22.
A database run by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks every mass killing in America going back to 2006 shows this year has been especially bad. The US has had 40 mass killings this year, second to 45 that occurred in 2019. The database defines a mass killing as at least four people killed, not including the killer.
In a brief news conference, Kosinski said police received reports of a shooting at 10pm and arrived to find multiple fatalities.
The shooting was thought to have stopped when police arrived, said Kosinski, adding that he did not believe police fired shots but he could not say whether the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot.
The city set up a reunification site at the Chesapeake Conference Center for family members of those who may have been present.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, the mayor of Chesapeake, Rick West, said: “I am devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place late last night in our city. Chesapeake is a tight-knit community and we are all shaken by this news.”
“We are shocked at this tragic event at our Chesapeake, Virginia store,” Walmart said early on Wednesday. “We’re praying for those impacted, the community and our associates. We’re working closely with law enforcement, and we are focused on supporting our associates,” the tweet said.
Mike Kafka, a spokesperson for Sentara Healthcare, said five patients from the Walmart were being treated at Norfolk general hospital. Their conditions were not immediately available.
The US senator Mark Warner said in a tweet he was “sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting”.
A Virginia state senator, Louise Lucas, said she was “absolutely heartbroken that America’s latest mass shooting took place in a Walmart 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.”