City holds vigil, honors 6 dead in Virginia Walmart shooting

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Walmart employee who survived last week’s mass shooting at a store in Virginia has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the company for allegedly continuing to employ the shooter — a store supervisor — “who had known propensities for violence, threats and strange behavior.”

The lawsuit, which appears to be the first to stem from the shooting, was filed Tuesday in Chesapeake Circuit Court by Donya Prioleau. Walmart, which is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, did not immediately respond to a written request seeking comment on the litigation.

Prioleau’s suit alleges that she has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, including physical and emotional distress, from witnessing the rampage in the store’s breakroom on Nov. 22. Her lawsuit offers fresh details of the terrifying attack and provides a long list of troubling signs displayed by the shooter that she claims managers failed to address.

“Bullets whizzed by Plaintiff Donya Prioleau’s face and left side, barely missing her,” the lawsuit states. “She witnessed several of her coworkers being brutally murdered on either side of her.”

The lawsuit adds: “Ms. Prioleau looked at one of her coworkers in the eyes right after she had been shot in the neck. Ms. Prioleau saw the bullet wound in her coworker’s neck, the blood rushing out of it, and the shocked look on her coworker’s helpless face.”

Store supervisor Andre Bing, 31, fatally shot six employees and wounded several others before he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, police said.

The lawsuit alleges that Bing “had a personal vendetta against several Walmart employees and kept a ‘kill list’ of potential targets prior to the shooting.”

The list is in reference to a “death note” found on Bing’s phone and released Friday by authorities. The note appeared to contain specific references to people he worked with, but authorities redacted their names.

Bing was a Walmart team leader who had worked for the company since 2010. He was responsible for managing the overnight stocking crew, including Prioleau, who started her job in May 2021, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims management knew or should have known about Bing’s disturbing behavior and lists several instances of alarming conduct.

“Prior to the shooting, Mr. Bing repeatedly asked coworkers if they had received their active shooter training,” the suit states. “When coworkers responded that they had, Mr. Bing just smiled and walked away without saying anything.”

Bing “made comments to other Walmart employees and managers suggesting that he would be violent if fired or disciplined,” according to the suit, which also says Bing “was disciplined leading up to the shooting, making his violent outburst predictable.”

In another instance, Bing told co-workers “he ran over a turtle with a lawnmower just to see its (guts) spray out, which made him hungry and reminded him of ramen noodles,” the lawsuit says.

Bing was previously disciplined for bad behavior and harassing employees, but Walmart “kept employing him anyway,” the suit says.

In her court filing, Prioleau states that she and her mother attempted to take action against Bing.

Prioleau had submitted a formal complaint on a Walmart Global Ethics Statement Form indicating that Bing had “bizarrely and inappropriately commented on Ms. Prioleau’s age,” the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit alleges that Bing told her: “Isn’t your lady clock ticking? Shouldn’t you be having kids?”

Prioleau also complained that Bing had harassed her for “being poor and being short,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that she also informed Walmart that Bing called her a “bitch” under his breath.

In September, Prioleau’s mother expressed concerns to a Walmart manager about her daughter’s safety “because it appeared their concerns were falling on deaf ears,” the lawsuit states.

The manager said “there was nothing that could be done about Mr. Bing because he was liked by management,” according to the suit.

Before the shooting, Bing told co-workers that “the government was watching him,” the suit says. “He kept black tape on his phone camera so no one could spy on him.”

In the note left on his phone, Bing claimed he was harassed and said he was pushed to the brink by a perception that his phone was hacked. The note also accused colleagues of mocking him.

Bing’s death note rambles at times through 11 paragraphs, with references to nontraditional cancer treatments and songwriting. He says people unfairly compared him to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Jessica Wilczewski, a Walmart employee who witnessed the shooting, told The Associated Press last week that Bing seemed to target certain people.

“The way he was acting — he was going hunting,” she said.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Hundreds gathered Monday in Virginia’s second-largest city to honor six people killed in a mass shooting at a Walmart, with the state’s governor pledging to confront a “mental health and a behavioral health crisis.”

Chesapeake’s candlelight vigil paid tribute to a diverse group of third-shift workers, ages 16 to 70, who unloaded trucks, broke down cardboard boxes and stocked shelves in this sprawling but tight-knit community near the coast.

The employees were slain Tuesday night by a store supervisor, who also died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Several others were wounded.

The shooter left behind a note that claimed he was harassed and pushed to the brink by a perception his phone was hacked, police said. The handgun that was used was legally purchased that morning, and he had no criminal record.

“I’m not alone in concluding that we have a mental health and a behavioral health crisis in the United States and in Virginia,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a city park. “A crisis that shows up in all facets of our society, in our homes, in our schools, in our workplace.”

The Republican governor said he will work across party lines “to chart a path forward.”

Much of the vigil focused on those who died and efforts to help this city of about 250,000 people to heal. And many people wrote messages on six white crosses as the sun set and a crescent moon hung low in the sky.

Among them was Doris Manuel, who lost nephew Brian Pendleton, 38.

“We know when something like this happens it’s not just us. It’s a whole city, a whole region,” she said.

Tammy Hawkins came in place of her son, Christian, who was too shook up over the death of high school friend Fernando Chavez-Barron.

“He loved Fernando like a brother,” Hawkins said.

Chesapeake City Councilman Don J. Carey III shared details on each victim.

Chavez-Baron had started working at the store to lessen the financial burden on his parents. His dad said he was his best friend.

Pendleton lived a clean life and believed in Jesus Christ. Despite not having a car or a driver’s license, he got to work on time for 11 years, never wanting to miss a shift.

Lorenzo Gamble, 43, was a quiet and reserved man who loved spending time with his two sons.

Tyneka Johnson, 22, had a smile that could light up any room. Her mom said she felt like she lost her best friend.

Kellie Pyle, 52, spread positivity wherever she went and would give her last dollar to make sure her friends and family had their needs met.

Randy Blevins, 70, was a kind and gentle man who loved Thanksgiving because he got the day off and could spend time with his family.

“We honor and pray for all those who were injured that night,” Carey said. “And for those throughout our community who suffered emotional wounds: We see you. We love you. We are here for you.”

Earlier Monday, the City Council held a brief special meeting to approve a resolution that will help free up funding for the response to and recovery from the shooting.

The Walmart, still closed, sits along a suburban strip of box stores that are located about a half-hour drive from the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. For many here, the store served as a de facto community center that facilitated unplanned chats in the aisles.

“You could run into your physician, teachers, principals,” Cliff Hayes, a lawmaker in Virginia’s House of Delegates, told The Associated Press. “This was a centralized place that will forever be changed.”

Walmart has more than 4,700 stores across the country and employs about 1.7 million people in the U.S. And yet each store can be unique, said Adam Reich, a Columbia University sociology professor who co-wrote the book, “Working for Respect, Community and Conflict at Walmart.”

The book describes life experiences that drew workers to Walmart and analyzes dynamics among employees. In some stores — though not all – workers formed strong bonds despite their varying backgrounds, Reich said. And it was often those tight relationships that kept associates in their jobs for long periods.

“It’s sort of astonishing that, on the one hand, Walmart is so standardized,” Reich said. “But on the other hand, there’s just so much variation and uniqueness that workers manage to establish and carve out in their individual stores. I don’t know the story of this store, but it sounds from the little I’ve read that that’s what workers had done here.”

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Associated Press reporter Sarah Rankin in Richmond contributed to this story.