New York Daily News: By Jessica Schladebeck – A Walmart employee opened fire inside a Virginia store Tuesday night, killing six people and wounding at least five others, police said, marking the latest incident in a wave of gun violence to strike the nation over the past few days.

Authorities believe the gunman, who killed himself, acted alone. He has not been identified and no motive has been released.

The store was packed with shoppers gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday when the shooting began. Officers with the Chesapeake Police Department were called to the Walmart around 10:15 p.m. and were immediately met with carnage when they arrived on the scene.

At least one victim was found outside the superstore.

Officer Leo Kosinski said the gunfire had already stopped by the time officers responded, but they spent hours after the shooting combing through the store searching for any survivors still hiding among the aisles.

“I am devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place late last night in our city,” Mayor Rick West said in a statement posted on the city’s Twitter account Wednesday. “Chesapeake is a tightknit community and we are all shaken by this news.”

The store was busy just before the shooting Tuesday night with people stocking up ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The store was busy just before the shooting Tuesday night with people stocking up ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. (Alex Brandon/AP)

The mass shooting comes just days after a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five people and wounding 17. It also comes about six months after the devastating violence at Robb Elementary School in Texas, where a gunman shot and killed 21 people back in May.

This year has been especially rife with gun violence, according to a database run by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks every mass killing in America going back to 2006. So far, the U.S. has experienced 40 mass killings in 2022, second to the 45 that occurred for all of 2019. That year also saw a mass shooting inside a Walmart in El Paso, which left 22 dead. Police said the shooter was targeting Mexicans during the attack.

With News Wire Services

Top Feature Photo: A Walmart employee, center, speaks with law enforcement as they work the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, in Chesapeake, Va – Alex Brandon/AP