Multiple people killed, injured in mass shooting at Virginia Walmart

File Photo: Gephardt Daily

CHESAPEAKE, Virginia, Nov. 23, 2022 (UPI/Gephardt Daily) — A gunman opened fire at a Chesapeake, Va., Walmart late Tuesday, killing and injuring multiple people, according to law enforcement officers on scene.

The number of casualties was unknown early Wednesday as officers continued to clear the building on Sam’s Circle in Chesapeake, a city of some 251,000 people located about 100 miles southeast of Richmond.

Chesapeake Police public information officer Leo Kosinski told reporters the number of those killed was “less than ten.”

The suspected shooter, thought to be a possible employee or former employee, is among the dead, Kosinski said.

Officers first responded to a call of a shooting at the Walmart Supercenter at about 10:12 p.m. When officers arrived, they confronted an unfolding active threat situation and adopted “an active threat response,” he said. Officers then conducted a tactical entrance of the building and located “multiple fatalities and multiple injured persons.”

The injured have been transported to area hospitals, he said.

Kosinski said officers were working to clear the building to locate other potential victims or those in hiding.

“We are shocked at this tragic event at our Chesapeake, Va., store,” a Walmart spokesperson told UPI in a statement. “We’re praying for those impacted, the community and our associates.”

The Washington Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they were en route to assist in the investigation.

Authorities believe there was only one shooter. Asked if the gunman had died in a police-involved shooting, Kosinski said: “I don’t believe so, but I can’t say that for sure.”

The City of Chesapeake had earlier confirmed via Twitter that there had been “an active shooter incident” at the Walmart, resulting in multiple fatalities.

The shooting comes more than a week after a gunman fatally shot three University of Virginia football players and wounded two others on campus the night of Nov. 14. Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. has been arrested and charged for their murders.

“I am absolutely heartbroken that America’s latest mass shooting took place in a Walmart in my district in Chesapeake, Virginia, tonight,” State Sen. Louise Lucas, a Democrat, said in a statement. “I will not rest until we find the solutions to end this gun violence epidemic in our country that has taken so many lives.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he was “sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting.”

“Enough is enough,” Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., tweeted.

The city said a reunification site has been established at the Chesapeake Conference Center for immediate family members or the emergency contacts of those who may have been at the Walmart during the shooting.

This is a developing story.

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