The suspect in a mass shooting at a Walmart Supercenter in Chesapeake, Virginia, was a former employee described by a former co-worker as paranoid but not violent.
In a statement Wednesday, Walmart identified the suspect as Andre Bing, a night crew leader who had been with the company since 2010. Chesapeake police said Bing was 31 years old and a Chesapeake resident.
Authorities said he killed at least six people and wounded at least six more before taking his own life in the shooting Tuesday night. A motive was not immediately clear.
Follow us for live coverage of the shooting.
Shaundrayia Reese, 27, said she worked at Chesapeake Walmart from late 2014 through 2018, spending her four years working on the nightly inventory team with Bing. She said Bing «didn’t use social media» and in a video she once took of his co-workers, Bing «jumped out of the way» to avoid being on camera.
«He put tape on his phone, on the camera. He always used to tell us the government was watching,» said Reese, who lives in Chesapeake. «It was just weird.»
Chesapeake police said Bing was armed with a handgun and had several magazines on him and was dead when police arrived on scene. He was «dressed in civilian clothing and was not wearing any type of body armor or ballistic vest,» police said in their statement.
Reese said that after news of the shooting broke, she learned from other Walmart associates that Bing had made threats before.
One person «said that Andre told him that if he ever got fired, he would come back and kill people,» Reese said.
However, Reese said she never saw a violent side to him.
«He was a little out of place. He never talked about anything related to violence, always things about the government, his weight, his family. Things like that,» he said.
He added that despite its quirks, Bing could be useful. She said that he gave her advice on how to save money.
«This is a surprise to everyone who ever worked at Walmart or is currently at Walmart,» he said.