Walmart asks for dismissal of workers’ suit over deadly mass shooting in Chesapeake

Walmart has asked a Virginia court to toss three lawsuits linked to a deadly mass shooting at its Chesapeake supercenter in November.

The lawsuits were filed by three workers, who were in the same break room where six coworkers were gunned down by their supervisor.



The company’s claims were made in court documents filed last week in Chesapeake Circuit Court in response to lawsuits filed by Donya Prioleau, James Kelly and Briana Tyler.

Those workers said Walmart was negligent because the company knew the supervisor was mentally unstable and had “violent tendencies towards co-workers” — but didn’t act on it.

While Walmart said it’s “appalled and horrified” by what happened, the employees should be filing workers’ compensation claims — not lawsuits.

On Nov. 22, six people were shot and killed and three others were hospitalized when overnight manager Andre Bing, 31, opened fire in a break room before killing himself at the Sam’s Circle Walmart in Chesapeake.

The Associated Press reported the last two patients who were wounded in the deadly shooting were released from a hospital on Dec. 5.

Matt Small

Matt joined WTOP News at the start of 2020, after contributing to Washington’s top news outlet as an Associated Press journalist for nearly 18 years.

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