By Abinaya V and Bharat Gautam
CHESAPEAKE, VA -According to authorities, a Walmart employee shot himself to death after killing six people and wounding several others at a store in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday night, just days after a gunman killed five and injured 17 at a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub.
According to Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky, the shooter, who has not been identified, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Six other people were confirmed dead and four were being treated at area hospitals, Solesky said.
The shooter used a pistol and was an employee of the Walmart where the shooting took place, Solesky said.
Tuesday’s bloodshed was the latest episode of gun violence in the United States which has fueled debate over tighter restrictions on access to guns.
Walmart said in a statement early Wednesday that it was “shocked” at the violence and that it was working closely with law enforcement.
“Sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake. I’ll be monitoring developments closely,” Virginia senator Mark Warner tweeted on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam, Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Shubham Kalia; Additional reporting by Juby Babu; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Nick Macfie and Gareth Jones)