Andre Bing: What we know about alleged gunman in Chesapeake Walmart mass shooting
Motive remains unclear but surviving employees claim the gunman had ‘issues’ with other staff members
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The gunman who allegedly killed six victims in a mass shooting inside a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia, before turning the gun on himself has now been identified as a night manager at the store.
Andre Bing, a 31-year-old from Chesapeake, is accused of opening fire inside the break room of the store on Sam’s Circle at around 10pm on Tuesday.
Six Walmart employees were killed in the attack, the motive for which remains unclear but surviving employees have claimed that he had “issues” with other staff members.
Walmart confirmed the gunman’s name in a statement to The Independent on Wednesday morning. Police made their official confirmation hours later.
“The alleged shooter has been identified as Andre Bing. We can confirm that he was a Walmart associate,” the Walmart statement read. “Andre’s position with the company was overnight team lead and he’s been employed with us since 2010.”
Here’s what we know so far about the gunman:
Who is Andre Bing?
Police officially named Bing as the shooter on Wednesday afternoon and said he was armed with a handgun and several magazines.
At a press conference hours earlier, authorities confirmed that the gunman was a disgruntled male store employee.
Chief Solesky said that officials would not reveal his identity at that time because his next of kin had not been notified.
He said that it was currently unclear whether or not the gunman “targeted” his victims or carried out the shooting at random.
Prior to Tuesday’s attack, he is not believed to have been on the radar of police.
A search of online records appears to show that he had no criminal record.
A search warrant was executed on the suspect’s home in the aftermath of the shooting. Chief Solesky said that it revealed that there is “no ongoing risk to the public”.
Police said that the attacker used a pistol in the attack but released no further details about the murder weapon – including the exact make and model and whether or not it was legally purchased and registered to the suspect.
The shooting
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said that law enforcement received the first 911 call about the shooting at 10.12pm on Tuesday.
Kevin Harper, a man who identified himself as a store worker, claimed he had just left the break room when “one of the managers” entered “and just started spraying”.
In a Facebook Live video, he claimed he had a near miss with the shooter as he had just left the break room when gunfire erupted.
“I’d just left out of the break room, manager come up in there, started capping people up in there, started shooting, bro. The manager came in, started dumping, man. As soon as I left out the break room he went in there, man... that s*** wild,” he says in the video.
Mr Harper claims it was “one of the managers” and that other “associates” died in the attack.
“It’s wild, though, it was the manager, one of the managers,” he says.
“Blew people’s brains out and everything... He came in and just started spraying and s***,” he adds.
“Sadly, though, we lost a few of our associates, I don’t know how many.”
The first officers arrived on the scene two minutes later at 10.14pm and entered the store two minutes after that at around 10.16pm.
Officers found the suspect dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds and declared the scene safe, said Chief Solesky
The motive
One Walmart employee who survived the attack claimed that the gunman had “issues” with some of their other colleagues and was “laughing” as he opened fire on his victims.
The witness, who was not named, told local network 10 On Your Side that the shooting unfolded when 14 employees were sat in a meeting room about to go on shift. The group of workers were waiting to learn their duties for the shift when the suspect began firing, she said.
The worker, who was just five days into the job at the store, said that she believed the shooting was planned because the perpetrator was known to have “issues” with other managers at the branch.
He appeared to target other managers in the shooting and was heard laughing at one point during the attack, she claimed.
“It didn’t even look real until you could feel the gun go off,” she said.
“I will never go back in that store again. I cannot, I can’t even leave my front door.”
The victims
The first victim killed in the shooting has been identified as Tyneka Johnson, a 21-year-old worker at the store, after her family issued a desperate appeal to find her in the aftermath of the horror attack.
In a heartbreaking Facebook post late on Wednesday night, Johnson’s family begged for help in finding out what had happened to her.
“We need help locating my lil cousin. She is an employee at Walmart,” wrote a desperate family member.
“Everyone need to know if she is safe. This post is about helping and locating Tyneka Johnson. No questions. Just help.”
Hours later, the family members posted a photo of the 21-year-old with heartbreak emojis.
Later on Wednesday, police confirmed her death and revealed the names of the other victims.
Five other Walmart employees were killed in the attack: Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, and a 16-year-old boy from Chesapeake, who has not been publicly named as he is a minor.
At least six other surviving victims were taken to local hospitals for further treatment, with three still hospitalised as of Wednesday morning.