CHESAPEAKE, VA — A shooting at a Walmart in Virginia left several people dead and injured Tuesday night, but exact numbers were not immediately known, police said. The shooter was among the dead, officials said.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the Walmart on Sam’s Circle around 10:15 p.m., and found evidence of a shooting once they arrived, Chesapeake Officer Leo Kosinski said at a briefing.
Within 35 to 40 minutes, officers found several dead and injured people inside the store and assembled rescue and tactical teams to go inside to treat the victims, he said.
Police believe there was one shooter who is dead, he said. They believe the shooting stopped when police arrived, Kasinski said. He did not have a death toll, but said it was “less than 10 now.”
Kasinski said he does not believe police fired, but he could not say whether the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“We are shocked by this tragic event at our store in Chesapeake, Virginia,” Walmart tweeted Wednesday. “We are praying for those affected, the community and our associates. We are working closely with law enforcement and are focused on supporting our partners,” the tweet said.
Mike Kafka, a spokesman for Sentara Healthcare, said in a text message that five patients from Walmart are being treated at Norfolk Hospital. Their terms were not immediately available.
The shooting in Virginia comes three days after a man opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five people and injuring 17. The non-binary shooter was arrested after they were beaten by clubgoers. The shooting comes in a year when the country was rocked by the deaths of 21 people in a school shooting in Uwald, Texas.
Tuesday’s shooting also brought to mind another Walmart shooting in 2019, when a gunman who police say was targeting Mexicans opened fire inside an El Paso store, killing 22 people. There was no security guard at Walmart that day.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner tweeted that he was “saddened by reports of yet another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake.” State Sen. Louise Lucas echoed Warner’s sentiments, tweeting that she was “absolutely heartbroken that the latest mass shooting in America happened at a Walmart in my neighborhood.”
Chesapeake Police tweeted that a family reunification area had been set up at the Chesapeake Convention Center. This site is only for immediate family members or emergency contacts of those who may have been in the building, the tweet said.
Chesapeake is about 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Norfolk.
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