No less than 5 of the individuals killed late Tuesday at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., had been staff of the shop, together with a number of who had been a part of a tight-knit in a single day crew making ready to take the ground as a busy procuring day got here to a detailed simply two days earlier than Thanksgiving.
The police recognized the six individuals slain within the capturing as Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, Tyneka Johnson and a 16-year-old boy whose title they’re withholding due to his age. Walmart mentioned the 5 adults all labored on the retailer; the corporate declined to say whether or not {the teenager} was an worker.
Family members of a number of victims mentioned they had been too distraught to share recollections of their family members on Wednesday, however a number of former staff on the Chesapeake Walmart fondly remembered their co-workers who had been among the many lifeless.
Josh Johnson mentioned he had labored on the retailer for 2 and a half years, leaving shortly earlier than the coronavirus pandemic, and seen Mr. Pendleton, a upkeep worker, as an older brother who all the time remained humble and was among the many retailer’s hardest employees.
“In case you had any issues, you could possibly go to Brian,” Mr. Johnson mentioned. “He would go to bat for you and enable you with something.”
Shaundrayia Reese, who mentioned she labored on the retailer from round 2015 to 2018, was notably near Mr. Pendleton, she mentioned.
“He by no means raised his voice, by no means had a nasty bone in his physique,” Ms. Reese mentioned. “No person might ever say something unhealthy about that man. He was one of many sweetest individuals I’ve ever met in my life. He didn’t should die like that.”
Ms. Reese additionally recalled working alongside Mr. Blevins, a longtime member of the shop’s modular crew, which set costs and organized merchandise. She knew him fondly as “Mr. Randy,” she mentioned.
The in a single day crew on the Chesapeake Walmart was “a household,” Ms. Reese mentioned, including that staff relied on one another and maintained a way of camaraderie, regardless of work that she mentioned was usually thankless and exhausting.
Sheelagh McNeill, Kitty Bennett and Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.