A Walmart employee opened fire on fellow employees in the break room of a Virginia store, killing six people in the country’s second high-profile mass shooting in four days, police and witnesses said Wednesday.

The gunman, who apparently shot himself, was dead when officers found him, police said.

Six other victims were transported to area hospitals, police said. One of the injured is in critical condition, they said.

A witness said the employee shot at fellow employees gathered in the break room. According to police, the bodies of three victims and the shooter were found in the break room, while another victim was found dead near the front of the store. The other three victims succumbed to their injuries after being rushed to hospitals, police said. 

Walmart identified the gunman as 31-year-old Andre Bing and confirmed that he was a team leader and had been with Walmart since 2010. Chesapeake Police confirmed the identity later Wednesday afternoon in a release, adding that he was dressed in normal clothing and was not wearing any type of armor or a ballistic vest.

The shooting was reported to 911 at 10:12 p.m., police Chief Mark Solesky told reporters Wednesday morning. Officers arrived on the scene within two minutes and entered the store around 10:16 p.m., he added. 

The store was deemed safe about an hour later, said police, who believe the gunman acted alone and that there is no longer any danger to the public.

The Walmart was open at the time of the shooting and busy with people stocking up ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, a shopper told a local TV station. Chesapeake police said that at least 50 people were inside, though they are still trying to account for anyone who was there but fled before police arrived.

The investigation is ongoing, and the store will likely be closed for days as officers and the FBI process the scene. 

The shooter’s motive was not clear as of Wednesday morning, and it was not known if he specifically targeted his victims, Solesky said. The police chief said he could not confirm if all the victims were employees.

Employee Briana Tyler said the overnight stocking team of about 15 or 20 people had just gotten together in the break room to go over the morning plan. As soon as the team was set to start, she said she looked up, and her manager turned around and opened fire on the staff.

“It is by the grace of God that a bullet missed me,” Tyler said. “I saw the smoke leaving the gun, and I literally watched bodies drop. It was crazy.”

At first, she didn’t think the shooting was real. “It was all happening so fast. I thought it was like a test type of thing. Like, if you do have an active shooter, this is how you respond.”

Tyler, who worked with the shooter just the night before, said the assailant did not aim at anyone specific.

“He was just shooting all throughout the room. It didn’t matter who he hit. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t look at anybody in any specific type of way."

Employee Jessie Wilczewski told Norfolk television station WAVY that she hid under the table, and the shooter looked at her with his gun pointed at her. He told her to go home, and she left.

“It didn’t even look real until you could feel the ... ‘pow-pow-pow,’ you can feel it," Wilczewski said. “I couldn’t hear it at first because I guess it was so loud, I could feel it.”

Joetta Jeffery told CNN that she received text messages from her mother who was inside the store when the shots were fired. Her mother, Betsy Umphlett, was not injured.

“I’m crying, I’m shaking,” Jeffery said. “I had just talked to her about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving, then this text came in.”

One man was seen wailing at a hospital after learning that his brother was dead, and others shrieked as they left a conference center set up as a family reunification center, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

Camille Buggs, a former Walmart employee, told the paper she went to the conference center seeking information about her former co-workers.

“You always say you don’t think it would happen in your town, in your neighborhood, in your store — in your favorite store and that’s the thing that has me shocked,” said Buggs, 58, of Chesapeake.

A Chesapeake Police Department SWAT team and Virginia State Police later searched the gunman’s home and determined it is safe, Solesky said.

Chesapeake Mayor Rick West did not attend Wednesday’s news conference because he tested positive for COVID-19, but City Manager Chris Price read a statement from the mayor, which said he was “devastated by the senseless act of violence that took place last night in our city.”

“My prayers are with all of those affected the victims, their family, their friends and their coworkers,” West said. “I'm grateful for the quick actions taken by our first responders who rushed to the scene. Chesapeake is a tight-knit community, and we were all shaken by this news. Together, we will support each other throughout this time, please keep us in your prayers.”

Walmart tweeted early Wednesday that it was “shocked at this tragic event.”

“We’re praying for those impacted, the community and our associates,” the retailer said. “We’re working closely with law enforcement, and we are focused on supporting our associates.

In a statement Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden “grieve for those families, for the Chesapeake community, and for the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

“Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, one of our most cherished holidays that brings us together as Americans and as families, when we hug our loved ones and count our blessings,” he said. “But 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. There are now more families who know the worst kind of loss and pain imaginable.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote on Twitter: “Our hearts break with the community of Chesapeake this morning. … Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., tweeted that he was “sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake.”

The attack at the Walmart came three days after a person opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado, killing five people and wounding 17. And it was the second mass shooting to rock Virginia in 10 days. On Nov. 13, a former University of Virginia football player opened fire on a bus returning from a field trip, killing three members of the school’s football team, according to police.

A database run by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University that tracks every mass killing in America going back to 2006 shows this year has been especially violent.

The U.S. has now had 40 mass killings so far in 2022, compared with 45 for all of 2019. The database defines a mass killing as at least four people killed, not including the killer.

According to the database, more than a quarter of the mass killings have occurred since Oct. 21, spanning eight states and claiming 51 lives. Nine of those 11 incidents were shootings.

Notably, the database does not include the University of Virginia shooting because that attack did not meet the threshold of four dead, not including the shooter.

Tuesday’s shooting also brought back memories of another at a Walmart in 2019, when a gunman police say was targeting Mexicans opened fire at a store in El Paso, Texas, and killed 22 people.