"Pain you can't even describe": Victims' loved ones react to Virginia Walmart shooting
In Chesapeake, Virginia, details are emerging about the six people who police say were shot to death by a manager at a Walmart supercenter Tuesday night.
The oldest person who died was 70, the youngest was just 16.
"This pain you can't even describe," Sonya, the aunt of 22-year-old victim Tyneka Johnson, said.
It's a pain that's all too familiar for families left grieving from America's latest mass shooting.
"How do you know you go out to go to work and you not coming home?" Sonya said.
All six killed in the shooting were Walmart employees. In addition to Johnson, 70-year old Randall Blevins, 43-year-old Lorenzo Gamble, 38-year-old Brian Pendleton, 52-year-old Kellie Pyle and an unidentified 16-year-old were gunned down.
Police say the shooter was 31-year-old Andre Bing, firing the first shots in the break room around 10 p.m. Bing worked as a night team manager and had been employed by the retailer since he was a teenager.
"It is by the grace of God that a bullet missed me," Walmart employee Briana Tyler said. "I literally watched bodies drop."
The shooter was armed with a handgun and additional rounds of ammunition — injuring at least six others before turning the gun on himself. The city of Chesapeake tweeted Thursday evening that two of the injured victims remain hospitalized, one in critical condition, and the other in fair condition.
Bing's motive is unknown.
This tragedy comes as the state is still grappling with the murders of three football players at the University of Virginia – allegedly shot by a former teammate just 10 days earlier.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin acknowledged the concern over the back-to-back mass killings in the Commonwealth.
"There will be time for us to react. But today and in the next few days is a time to support those that need us most," Youngkin said.