Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Walmart employee who survived mass shooting at store in Virginia has filed a $50 Million lawsuit against the company.
An employee who survived the mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake last week has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the company.
The lawsuit, filed by Donya Prioleau, claims she submitted a complaint about the gunman two months prior to the shooting that took the lives of six Walmart employees. Police say the shooter also died, from a self-inflicted wound.
Prioleau had been working at the Walmart Supercenter near Battlefield Boulevard in Chesapeake for more than a year. She was working the night of the shooting and claims to have narrowly avoided being shot.
Law firm Morgan & Morgan filed the suit on Tuesday, one week after the deadly shooting. Attorneys John Morgan and Peter Anderson issued this statement:
“While the cruelty of murdering six defenseless people is truly unimaginable, Ms. Prioleau alleges that she and her coworkers had been concerned for months that such an incident could occur at any time. Our client alleges Walmart acknowledged her written complaint alleging harassment, but continued to employ the perpetrator. As workplace shootings and violence become horrifyingly common, employers have a responsibility to understand the warning signs and take threats seriously in order to protect their employees and customers. Our hearts are broken for the families of those who lost loved ones and for those, like Ms. Prioleau, whose lives will never be the same because of this trauma. We will work to hold Walmart accountable for failing to stop this tragedy.”
The lawsuit claims that Walmart acknowledged Prioleau’s complaint, however, the accused 31-year-old suspect remained employed as a shift leader at Walmart. The suspect was previously disciplined for his “cruel and inappropriate behavior,” according to the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Prioleau details how she was in the breakroom when the shooting occurred and witnessed her colleagues being murdered while she was trying to escape.
In the complaint, Prioleau alleges she was severely traumatized by being shot at and witnessing the deaths of her coworkers, outlining a range of mental health consequences she’s suffered as a result of the attack, including sleeplessness, flashbacks, severe anxiety, and nightmares.
In addition, the complaint alleges that the suspect “repeatedly made veiled threats of violence,” stating that people will “remember [his] name” if he was ever fired and ominously asking employees if they had received their active shooter training.”
Prioleau’s lawsuit alleges that she experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, including physical and emotional distress, from witnessing the rampage in the store’s breakroom on Nov. 22.
“Bullets whizzed by Plaintiff Donya Prioleau’s face and left side, barely missing her,” the lawsuit states. “She witnessed several of her coworkers being brutally murdered on either side of her.”
Store supervisor Andre Bing, 31, fatally shot six employees and wounded several others before he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, police said.
Police identified those killed as Chesapeake residents Brian Pendleton, 38; Kellie Pyle, 52; Lorenzo Gamble, 43; and Randy Blevins, 70, along with Tyneka Johnson, 22, of nearby Portsmouth. The name of a sixth victim, a 16-year-old boy, was not released because of his age.
The lawsuit alleges that Bing “had a personal vendetta against several Walmart employees and kept a ‘kill list’ of potential targets prior to the shooting.”
The lawsuit also states that Prioleau had submitted a formal complaint on a Walmart Global Ethics Statement Form indicating that Bing had “bizarrely and inappropriately commented on Ms. Prioleau’s age.”
The lawsuit alleges that Bing told her: “Isn’t your lady clock ticking? Shouldn’t you be having kids?”
Prioleau also complained that Bing had harassed her for “being poor and being short,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that she also informed Walmart that Bing called her a “bitch” under his breath.
“Despite Mr. Bing’s long-standing pattern of disturbing and threatening behavior, Walmart knew or should have known about Mr. Bing’s disturbing and threatening behavior, but failed to terminate Mr. Bing, restrict his access to common areas, conduct a thorough background investigation, or subject him to a mental health examination,” the lawsuit states.
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