The shooter was an employee of the store.

On Tuesday night, police officers in Chesapeake, Virginia received reports of shots fired at a local Walmart store. According to eyewitness accounts, the shooter was an employee of the store, a manager specifically. The employees of the location had gathered in the break room to start the night shift, when the manager entered the room and, with no further comment, opened fire with a handgun. Six individuals were killed in the incident, including the shooter due to a self-inflicted gunshot, while several more are in unknown condition at a local hospital.

“He literally just started shooting throughout the entire break room,” Employee Briana Tyler told ABC. “And I watched multiple people just drop down to the floor, whether they were trying to duck for cover or they were hit. … He looked directly at me but luckily he missed my head by like an inch or two.”

“You hope a day like this never comes, but we train for it, we practice, we talk about it, we learn lessons,” City Manager Chris Price said at a police briefing. “You hope that those lessons will never have to be put to use.”

Following the news, United States President Joe Biden issued a statement thanking the first responders who arrived on the scene while lamenting the continued loss of life to shooting events. “Because of yet another horrific and senseless act of violence, there are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving,” he said. “There are now more families who know the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable.”