A survivor of the mass shooting at a Walmart store in Virginia, in which six people were killed, has filed a lawsuit against the company seeking $50 million (Rs 406 crore) in compensatory damages, according to a report in CNN. The woman said she had filed a written complaint to the company about the "bizarre" behaviour of the gunman - the manager of the store - but Walmart continued to employ him. The mass shooting in the city of Chesapeake took place just before Thanksgiving holiday and after a gun attack at an LGBTQ club in Colorado that left five people dead.
Donya Prioleau, an overnight stocker and trainer who worked with gunman Andre Bing, has accused Walmart's parent company of negligent hiring and retention, as reported by CNN.
"Prior to the shooting, Mr Bing repeatedly asked coworkers if they had received their active shooter training. When coworkers responded that they had, Mr Bing just smiled and walked away without saying anything," the employee said in her complaint. Bing had also died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
She said that Mr Bing was disciplined several times throughout his Walmart employment.
Ms Prioleau's lawsuit has also described what happened during the shooting last week.
"Ms Prioleau looked at one of her coworkers in the eyes right after she had been shot in the neck. Ms Prioleau saw the bullet wound in her coworker's neck, the blood rushing out of it, and the shocked look on her coworker's helpless face," according to the complaint.
Bing also made a number of bizarre comments to staff members. Some of the examples mentioned in the lawsuit are: He ran over a turtle with a lawnmower on purpose, the government was watching him and asking Ms Prioleau if he could "borrow her hair".
Gun violence occurs at an alarming rate in the United States, where more than 600 mass shootings have occurred so far in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.
