Virginia Walmart Mass Shooting: Multiple Dead, Injured In Chesapeake

Multiple people died in a mass shooting at a Walmart in Virginia's Chesapeake after a man carrying a gun went on a rampage.

The Chesapeake Police Department responded to the shooting that took place around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday. Upon arrival, officers found multiple fatalities, the PD's spokesman MPO Leo Kosinski said during a press briefing at around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday. The shooting had stopped by the time police reached the scene, and the shooter was confirmed dead, Kosinski said, as per Axios.

"We believe it's only one shooter, and we believe that one shooter is deceased." the spokesperson told reporters.

While the exact number of fatalities was unclear, Kosinski believed it to be less than 10.

Kosinski said the death count was "less than 10, right now," USA Today reported. Several others who sustained injuries were rushed to multiple area hospitals. Details on their condition weren't immediately available.

A spokesperson for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital confirmed five patients were being treated there.

The store was functional when the shooting took place. People who were still inside the building were asked to vacate after an investigation was launched into the shooting. There was a huge police response outside the store, with more than 40 emergency vehicles lined up. FBI and Virginia Beach police also responded to Chesapeake PD's call for assistance.

Walmart expressed shock at the tragic event at its Chesapeake store in a statement posted on Twitter Wednesday morning.

"We are shocked at this tragic event at our Chesapeake, Virginia store. We're praying for those impacted, the community and our associates. We're working closely with law enforcement, and we are focused on supporting our associates," the statement read.

Virginia state Senator Louise Lucas also tweeted to express grief at the latest mass shooting incident, vowing to find solutions to end gun violence in the country.

"I am absolutely heartbroken that America's latest mass shooting took place in a Walmart in my district in Chesapeake, Virginia tonight. I will not rest until we find the solutions to end this gun violence epidemic in our country that has taken so many lives," the Senator wrote in his tweet.

"Another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, two days before Thanksgiving. This cannot keep happening. This is the 606th mass shooting of the year and the 31st in just the last 22 days. We have a gun problem," read another tweet.

In another shooting incident that took place earlier this month, a man named Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. fatally shot three players from the UVA football team, and wounded two others at the school's main campus in Charlottesville. The suspect was charged with second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony in the incident.

Nearly 40,000 people died due to gun violence in the country, just this year. The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks shootings in the United States, estimated at least 605 mass shootings took place in the country so far this year, following the Club Q shooting. About 13 mass shootings took place in the first weekend of June, according to Insider.