Tragic shooting in Chesapeake Virginia

On November 22, 2022 Chesapeake was struck with a horrible tragedy.  A shooting in a local Walmart left 7 dead.

On Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, shooter Andre Bing walked into the Walmart soon before closing and kills 6 other managers then himself. When police arrived 4 were dead including the shooter.  Three others had been transported to the hospital according to an article located on CNN’s website. A witness by the name of Kevin Harper described the experience, saying, “I just left out the breakroom … (the gunman) starts cappin’ people up in there. He came in there and just started spraying,” he stated in a Facebook live video. While the video cannot be found on the platform anymore it has been reposted on various social media platforms.

Walmart President John Furner previously said that the event was more tragic for the company because one of their own employees was the shooter in question. His exact words according to the earlier mentioned article on CNN’s website were “We feel tragedies like this personally and deeply. But this one is especially painful as we have learned the gunman was a Walmart associate. The entire Walmart family is heartbroken. Our hearts and prayers are with those impacted, and we are grateful for the actions of first responders.”

There had been about 50 customers doing some last minute stocking up for Thanksgiving according to an article on AP news. A woman named Joetta Jeffery had received texts from her mother Betsy Umphlett while the shooting was happening, she had told CNN.  “I’m crying, I’m shaking,” “I had just talked to her about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving, then this text came in,” Jeffery said.

There have recently been two other tragic shootings, one on a charter bus and another at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs according to AP News. This only shows the deteriorating state of American mental health. If you need help there are hotlines and services to help you, not all problems need to be solved with such extreme actions, according to APA.org the hotline for mental health services is (800) 662-4357.

According to Briana Tyler, a new employee at the Walmart in question, while she never had any personal issues with him he was “The manager to look out for.”  She also said that “he just liked to pick, honestly. I think he just looked for the little things … because he had the authority. That’s just the type of person he was. That’s what a lot of people said about him.”

He had apparently had a long history of writing people up for little to no reason. She said all this in an article on AP news. This same article also says that an employee named Jessie Wilczewski had been hiding under a table but unfortunately had been found, luckily, Andre had spared her life and told her to go home. There were also statements from the President found in the news article “We mourn for those who will have empty seats at their Thanksgiving table because of these tragic events.” It is a shame that these events had happened before such a family oriented holiday.