One year after an employee at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, opened fire inside the store where he worked and killed six people, flags in the state will sit at half-staff to honor those victims.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made the order on Tuesday afternoon, and it will affect flags "on all state and local buildings and grounds in the Commonwealth of Virginia," the written statement read.
Flags will be lowered at sunrise on Wednesday, Nov. 22, and will stay at half-staff until sunset.
The shooting shook the community in Hampton Roads one year ago on Wednesday, just before Thanksgiving in 2022 as customers did last-minute shopping for the holiday. That shooting came days after another mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs and less than two weeks after a shooting at the University of Virginia.
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The alleged gunman at the Chesapeake Walmart, Andre Bing, was an overnight crew supervisor who had been with the company since 2010. Law enforcement described him as a "disgruntled employee" who opened fire in the store's breakroom.
The mass shooting killed six people. Several others were injured.
The shooter also died, of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, law enforcement said at the time.
The flags at half-staff in 2023 will be lowered "in memory and respect of the of the victims, their families, and the entire Chesapeake community following last year’s shooting," Youngkin's order said.
