CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- People in the Chesapeake community are still mourning the loss of six people whose lives were cut short in a mass shooting at a Walmart, with a makeshift memorial growing in size by the day.
They said it's impossible to make sense of what happened as police released disturbing new details about the suspected gunman.
On Friday, Chesapeake officials revealed some of the last words from Andre Bing before the 31-year-old Walmart manager shot and killed six employees at work on Tuesday night, they said.
Police found what was titled as "death note" on Bing's phone. The note starts with "Sorry God I've failed you". Bing went on to say he also failed his management team by convincing them that he was normal. Several times, he mentioned that associates laughed at and mocked him.
He said his true intent was not to murder anyone, calling himself ‘“one of the most loving people in the world” and that he wishes his parents paid closer attention to his social deficits.
You can read more about the note here.
Heaven Jones was friends with the youngest victim, 16-year-old Fernando Chavez-Barron, who just started his first job at Walmart, according to family.
Jones and Chavez-Barron were classmates at Oscar Smith High School.
"I texted him earlier that day to see like, you know, how he was doing because he worked at the Walmart. And he never replied to me. So it was heartbreaking when I got that information, really tragic,” she said.
Jones said she doesn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her friend.
"He was a sweet, genuine person. He kept to himself. A quiet person," Jones said. “I can’t imagine why someone would want to do those things to him.”
Jacqueline Bailey said she worked at the store for 20 years. A former supervisor, she left the job in 2019 but said she still frequents the store to visit old coworkers.
“That’s my second family,” Bailey said. “I talked to these people every day. You know what I'm saying? They were not a threat to nobody.”
She said the employees Bing is suspected of killing had a huge impact on her life, especially Brian Pendleton and Lorenzo Gamble. She described both as warm, kind, and always smiling.
Bailey, too, said she can’t make sense of why any of the employees would’ve been intentionally attacked.
"Lorenzo, he was just so quiet. I would have to make him speak, make him talk. But other than that, he was, all of them were nice,” Bailey said. “I'm sorry y'all went through the things that y'all went through. I know that it hurts. I know that it was scary.”
Bailey said she and Bing worked different shifts, but she never picked up anything unusual or out of the ordinary during their interactions.
“He still didn't seem like that type of person to me, but you never know what's going through peoples' minds,” Bailey said.
Another deceased victim, 22-year-old Tyneka Johnson, was described by a friend as loving.
"I just wish I could just bring her back. She didn't deserve that," Thomas Jones, a friend of Tyneka, said.
Trisha Matthews, who stopped by the memorial on Friday, believes the incident should bring awareness to mental health support.
"There absolutely are always warning signs and we need to take heed to those and take serious measures and precautions. More workplace awareness for safety and violence and how to deal with it and things to look out for so that we can prevent those," Matthews said.
This weekend, a citywide vigil will be held in Chesapeake to honor the lives taken.
"This community is heartbroken by what happened to you guys and your family, and we suffer with you," Matthews said.
