Multiple people were killed during a horrific mass shooting at a Walmart store in Virginia last night after a gunman, believed to be a deranged employee, opened fire. The suspect is understood to have shot himself after the rampage which took place at the Walmart Supercentre in Chesapeake, Virginia at around 10:12pm local time yesterday evening.
Police have not yet confirmed the number of victims killed in the attack but have said it was ''less than 10 right now'', with multiple people left injured. The body of one victim was left at the entrance of the store in Sam's Circle, the Mirror reports.
Social media footage appears to show one employee claiming his manager had walked into the store with a gun and started shooting. In the video, a distressed woman who can be heard crying says: "I just played dead."
The cameraman who appears to be in an employee uniform says: "It's crazy, y'all. Bro come in this b*** on some...he...it's wild though, bro.
"It was the manager, one of the managers. S*** was savage out here." He adds: "Bro blew his brains out and everything."
However, police have said it is currently unknown whether the gunman was a member of staff. Chesapeake Police spokesman, Leo Kosinki confirmed in a briefing that officers uncovered multiple dead bodies and injured people in the Walmart store.
With the help of the fire brigade, they organised rescue and tactical teams to go inside together to provide life saving measures following the massacre. Mr Kosinski did not have a number of dead, but said it was "less than 10, right now".
Investigators believe that the shooting came to a halt when officers arrived. Dozens of police cars and medical professionals are at the scene.
A reunification meeting point for survivors and their loved ones has been set up at the Chesapeake Conference Centre. Mr Kosinski said: "We go inside, and long story short over the course of the next 40-45 minutes we were able to find multiple fatalities and multiple injured parties."
"With the Chesapeake fire department we were able to put rescue and tactical teams together to provide lifesaving measures rapidly." He stated that the initial emergency response had only included the local police but members of the state troopers were later called out to the incident.
Chesapeake city officials posted a message on Twitter asking locals to stay clear of the immediate area surrounding the shop which read: "Our first responders are well-trained and prepared to respond; please give them space to do so."
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