Walmart Shooting Leaves One Dead; Virginia Town in Shock
A fatal shooting occurred at a Walmart distribution center near Petersburg, Va., on Wednesday.
The shooting occurred at around noon as an employee at a company distribution center shot and wounded his female manager before shooting himself dead.
The Walmart shooting occurred at a facility in the rural community of Dinwiddie, which is about 30 miles south of Richmond. The victim was airlifted to a local hospital from the center. She was shot in the leg and did not sustain life-threatening wounds, according to authorities.
It is unclear what promoted the man to shoot himself and the other victim, but the names of both have not yet been released.
Deputies were summoned to the Walmart center around noon shortly after the man had shot his 40-year-old manager. When police approached the man, who was standing outside the center, he proceeded to shoot at them, before fatally shooting himself in the chest.
The distribution center employees around 600 people and has been in operation for 20 years. The man had been working for the center for eight years and it does not appear that the shooting occurred as a result of a dispute between both parties.
Employees and town residents are both shocked and saddened by Wednesday's events.
"This is certainly a tragedy … but in a rural county such as Dinwiddie it's very unusual. I'm sure it's going to cause a lot of people at Wal-Mart to be upset when something like this happens … because I'm upset," Dinwiddie Country Sheriff D.T. Adams said at a news conference.
Employees are barred from carrying firearms on the job and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. spokesman Dan Fogleman said that the company is grateful that the manager did not sustain worse injuries.
"This is a tragic scenario for our company, the community, for our associates and especially the victim and the families of those involved," Fogleman said in a telephone interview with The Huffington Post.
