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CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — The Walmart supervisor who fatally changeable six co-workers astatine a store successful Virginia bought the weapon conscionable hours earlier the killings and near a enactment connected his telephone accusing colleagues of mocking him, authorities said Friday.
“Sorry everyone but I did not program this I committedness things conscionable fell successful spot similar I was led by the Satan,” Andre Bing wrote connected a enactment that was near connected his phone, the Chesapeake Police Department said Friday.
Police said the 9 mm handgun utilized successful the Tuesday nighttime shooting was legally purchased that greeting and that Bing had nary transgression record. They released a transcript of the enactment recovered connected his telephone that appeared to redact the names of circumstantial radical helium mentioned.
It was not wide erstwhile the enactment was written, but successful it Bing claimed helium was harassed and said helium was pushed to the brink by a cognition his telephone was hacked.
He wrote, “My lone privation would person been to commencement implicit from scratch and that my parents would person paid person attraction to my societal deficits.” Bing died astatine the country of an evident self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Coworkers of Bing who survived the shooting said helium was hard and known for being hostile with employees. One subsister said Bing seemed to people radical and fired astatine immoderate victims aft they were already hit.
Jessica Wilczewski said workers were gathered successful a store interruption room to statesman their overnight displacement precocious Tuesday erstwhile Bing, a squad leader, entered and opened fire. While different witnesser has described Bing arsenic shooting wildly, Wilczewski said she observed him people definite people.
“The mode helium was acting — helium was going hunting,” Wilczewski told The Associated Press connected Thursday. “The mode helium was looking astatine people’s faces and the mode helium did what helium did, helium was picking radical out.”
Wilczewski said she had lone worked astatine the store for 5 days and being a caller worker whitethorn person been the crushed she was spared.
She said she was hiding nether a array aft the shooting started and that astatine 1 point, Bing told her to get retired from nether the table. But erstwhile helium saw who she was, helium told her, “Jessie, spell home.”
Former coworkers and residents of Chesapeake, a metropolis of astir 250,000 radical adjacent Virginia’s coast, person been struggling to marque consciousness of the rampage.
Bing’s decease note rambles astatine times done 11 paragraphs, with references to nontraditional crab treatments and songwriting. He says radical unfairly compared him to serial slayer Jeffrey Dahmer, and wrote: “I would person ne'er killed anyone who entered my home.”
And helium wished for a woman but wrote helium didn’t merit one.
Some who worked with Bing, 31, said helium had a estimation for being an aggressive, if not hostile, supervisor who erstwhile admitted to having “anger issues.” But helium besides could marque radical laughter and seemed to beryllium dealing with the emblematic stresses astatine enactment that galore radical endure.
“I don’t deliberation helium had galore radical to autumn backmost connected successful his idiosyncratic life,” said Nathan Sinclair, who worked astatine the Walmart for astir a twelvemonth earlier leaving earlier this month.
During chats among coworkers, “We would beryllium similar ‘work is consuming my life.’ And (Bing) would beryllium like, ‘Yeah, I don’t person a societal beingness anyway,’” Sinclair recalled Thursday.
Sinclair said helium and Bing did not get along. Bing was known for being “verbally hostile” to employees and wasn’t peculiarly well-liked. But Sinclair besides said determination were times erstwhile Bing was made amusive of.
Police person identified the victims arsenic Brian Pendleton, 38; Kellie Pyle, 52; Lorenzo Gamble, 43; Randy Blevins, 70, and Fernando Chavez-Barron, 16, who were each from Chesapeake; and Tyneka Johnson, 22, of adjacent Portsmouth. Chavez-Barron’s sanction was released Friday; it had been withheld antecedently due to the fact that of his age.
Two others who were changeable remained hospitalized, constabulary said Friday. One is inactive successful captious condition, and the different is successful just to improving condition.
Six radical were wounded successful the shooting, which happened conscionable aft 10 p.m. arsenic shoppers were stocking up up of the Thanksgiving holiday. Police said they judge astir 50 radical were successful the store astatine the time.
Bing was identified arsenic an overnight squad person who had been a Walmart worker since 2010. Police said helium had 1 handgun and respective magazines of ammunition.
Walmart worker Briana Tyler said the overnight stocking squad of 15 to 20 radical had conscionable gathered successful the interruption country to spell implicit the greeting plan. Another squad person had begun speaking erstwhile Bing entered the country and opened fire, Tyler and Wiczewski said.
The onslaught was the 2nd large shooting successful Virginia this month. Three University of Virginia shot players were fatally shot connected a autobus Nov. 13 arsenic they returned from a tract trip. Two different students were wounded.
The Walmart shooting besides comes days aft a idiosyncratic opened occurrence astatine a cheery nightclub successful Colorado Springs, Colorado — sidesplitting 5 and wounding 17. Tuesday night’s shooting brought backmost memories of different onslaught astatine a Walmart successful 2019, erstwhile a gunman killed 23 astatine a store successful El Paso, Texas.
Also connected Friday, a idiosyncratic suffered injuries not considered life-threatening aft being changeable astatine a Walmart successful Lumberton, North Carolina, constabulary said. Investigators described it arsenic an isolated altercation betwixt 2 radical who knew each other.
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Barakat reported from Falls Church, Virginia. Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie successful Chesapeake and Michael Kunzelman successful Silver Spring, Maryland, and quality researchers Rhonda Shafner and Randy Herschaft successful New York contributed to this report.
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