CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Investigators say their main focus right now is learning as much as they can about the Chesapeake Walmart mass shooting suspect, including a possible motive.
WAVY spent the day on Wednesday trying to reach out to people who knew the suspect, 31-year-old Andre Bing of Chesapeake. He was a team lead on the overnight shift, and had worked with the company since 2010, Walmart said.
A former coworker who worked underneath Bing at the Walmart up until six months ago told 10 On Your Side he knew Bing fairly well and never would’ve predicted this kind of behavior.
“I never saw this coming, not from a million miles away. He was always a little eccentric, a little hyper, but pretty much easygoing, carefree. Sometimes he could be a little hard to get along with, some associates didn’t like him. But I don’t think they bullied him,” he said.
The employee, who asked us not to reveal his name, said he’s having a hard time wrapping his head around how easily he could’ve been a victim.
“It’s just crazy. It could’ve been me if this was 6 months ago. I would’ve been there,” he said.
The employee told us he doesn’t believe Bing suffered from any kind of anger problems, but that he was aware there might have been some issues.
“I mean, from what I saw, he was a good guy, but I’ve heard that he had issues, and they tried to talk him through his issues,” he said.
Neighbors in the Eva Gardens area of Chesapeake say authorities were at Bing’s house less than an hour after the shooting on Tuesday night. The home has since been cleared and the FBI was seen bagging evidence Wednesday afternoon.
While a public safety information source said there was a list of people the gunman presumably meant to target found at the Walmart, a source told WAVY’s Investigative Team that nothing alarming such as additional weapons, ammunition or information about the victims, was found at Bing’s home when authorities searched it on Wednesday.
Neighbors who spoke with WAVY said Bing mostly kept to himself and they didn’t really know him.
“I’ve seen him just in passing, he drives a little green Ford Focus,” said Vera McDuffy, who Bing lived next to for two years. McDuffy says she heard police yell “Search warrant! Search warrant!” as they banged down his door.
A witness who spoke with WAVY earlier Wednesday said she believed the shooting was planned, and that the suspect was laughing at the time. Bing fatally shot six people before turning the gun on himself, police say. Three people remained hospitalized on Wednesday night, two in critical condition.
A law enforcement source told 10 On Your Side’s Chris Horne that Bing had a manifesto on his phone. The source said the manifesto described how Bing was upset about the recent change in employment status and was being harassed about it by fellow employees.
The shooting was called in at 10:12 p.m. and was over by the time police went inside the store minutes later, police said.
Authorities are still looking for people who may have been inside the store at the time. If you have information, you’re asked to call the FBI hotline at 1-800-CALLFBI.
