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Linda Gamble had been planning Thanksgiving dinner with her son, Lorenzo. The 43-year-old was in charge of both the banana pudding cake and banana pudding, at her request.
She reminded him to bake enough for their extensive family. With 16 grandchildren, she planned to pack their Chesapeake, Va., house for the holiday. Everyone would be together to eat and play family games, she said.
“I just wanted my boys to spend time with me,” Gamble said.
But that all changed Tuesday night, after authorities said a man opened fire at the Chesapeake Walmart where Lorenzo Gamble worked the overnight shift as a custodian. According to officials, the gunman — a store supervisor — fatally shot six people and injured at least six others before taking his own life.
Wednesday evening, Chesapeake officials released the names of five of the six who died, all of them employees of Walmart: Brian Pendleton. Kellie Pyle. Randall Blevins. Tyneka Johnson. A 16-year-old from Chesapeake whose name was not released because of his age. And Lorenzo Gamble.
At least 50 people were in the store at the time of the shooting. Some collected last-minute Thanksgiving groceries. Others worked through their overnight shift for the giant retailer.
On Twitter, the city said two of the deceased victims and the shooter were found in the employee break room at the rear of the store, and another slain victim was found near the front. Three other victims were rushed to hospitals but died, the city said. Six additional victims were taken to hospitals for treatment, and one was in critical condition on Wednesday afternoon.
The killing — the third multiple shooting this month — came days after a man fatally shot five people at a Colorado LGBTQ club and less than two weeks after a 22-year-old University of Virginia student was charged in the killing of three students returning from a school trip.
Chesapeake area residents described tears and “heartbreak” when speaking to The Post about the deadly shooting at Walmart on Nov. 22. (Video: John Warner, Joy Yi/The Washington Post, Photo: Carlos Bernate/The Washington Post)
Billy Pillar-Gibson immediately feared for his cousin Kellie Pyle the moment news broke of the Walmart shooting. Pyle got a job at the Chesapeake Walmart recently, after moving back to her native Norfolk in May to be with the high school sweetheart with whom she had reconnected after a divorce.
Pillar-Gibson and his husband raced to Norfolk General Hospital, as did Pyle’s fiance, where they were told she was in surgery. But she was not there. As it turned out, Pillar-Gibson said, Pyle had died in the break room, a place he knew well because he had once worked at the store.
After years away in Indiana and Kentucky, Pyle — a grandmother at 52 — was thrilled to be living in the same city as Pillar-Gibson, who called her his best friend.
“We always said we were going to grow old together,” he said Wednesday night at his apartment not far from the store where she died. “None of this makes sense. In the whole scheme of things, we’re still young.”
Pillar-Gibson broke down as he described his cousin’s sarcastic sense of humor and the bonds they had forged growing up in a family with more than its share of quirky personalities, including “Nanny Catherine,” the fierce-tempered matriarch they adored and feared.
“We grew up in a crazy family, and we understood each other,” he said. “I don’t remember life without her.”
Pyle had two grown children and a 2-year-old granddaughter, and she was looking forward to sharing the holidays with family in Norfolk.
“It was going to be her first Thanksgiving here,” he said.
Family and friends of the other victims turned to their memories as they absorbed the news of the shootings.
Casheba Cannon tutored Tyneka Johnson for her first two years at Western Branch High School. Cannon recalled her as a young person who dreamed of attending college and was willing to work through academic weaknesses to better herself, all with the backing of a supportive family.
“Education was in the forefront. Her family did whatever they had to do to make sure she got assistance,” Cannon recalled.
During weekly sessions, Johnson was always a fashionista, arriving with her hair and nails done, while displaying an ebullient personality and an affinity for music and dancing, Cannon said.
But the young woman also was willing to help younger students, and she “gelled” with anyone she came into contact with at Cannon’s Blessed Tutoring Services.
“She was that kid. When she came to tutoring, she was very well-put-together,” Cannon said. “Tyneka was a light in a dim room.”
The shooting hit the community hard. On Facebook, people prayed that rumors about other victims would be unfounded. They posted photos of black ribbons and tagged #PrayingforChesapeake. And they issued condolences to the families, including Gamble’s.
When she first heard the news of the shooting, Linda Gamble called her son over and over, only to get the same result: no answer.
He must have dropped his phone running out of the store, she thought to herself. But the longer she went without hearing from him, the more she worried.
Her husband, Alonzo Gamble, spent much of the night at the Chesapeake Conference Center with other worried family members, waiting on answers on his son’s whereabouts. Then he received the news his family had feared: Lorenzo Antron Gamble had died in the shooting.
Gamble had worked at Walmart for 15 years, his mother said in a phone interview Wednesday morning. He loved spending time with his two sons, attending his 19-year-old’s football games and rooting for the Washington Commanders. His 10-year-old would cry whenever his father would leave — he just wanted to spend more time with his dad, Linda Gamble said.
“He just kept to himself and did his job,” she said. “He was the quiet one of the family.”
Alonzo Gamble echoed Linda’s remembrance of their son. He was quiet and reserved. He didn’t have too many friends, but he loved spending time with his two sons. He spent time on his silver blacktop Mustang GT, changing the rims and keeping it running smoothly.
“I’m hoping he’s still alive and will come back,” Linda Gamble said through tears.
She went over to her son’s house Wednesday morning, trying to fathom the loss. Inside, before she neatly made his bed, she found all the ingredients for banana pudding sitting untouched on the counter.
Tom Jackman contributed to this report. Vozzella reported from Chesapeake, Va.
Mass shooting at Walmart in Chesapeake, Va.
The latest: An employee opened fire in a break room at a Virginia Walmart Tuesday night, killing at least six people before taking his own life, according to Chesapeake police.
Remembering the victims: The City of Chesapeake on Wednesday identified five of the six victims killed in the Walmart shooting. Their names are Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins and Tyneka Johnson. The sixth victim is a 16-year-old, whose name is currently being withheld by authorities because he is a minor.
Who is the Walmart shooting suspect? Andre M. Bing was identified as the Walmart shooting suspect by police and the company. He was an overnight supervisor at the store.
Chesapeake Walmart shooting
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