VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Walmart employee who says she narrowly missed being shot as a manager opened fire inside a Chesapeake store last week filed a $50 million lawsuit against the company Tuesday, alleging the company ignored her complaints about his troubling behavior in the months prior to the deadly shooting.
The lawsuit states that Donya Prioleau, who had been working at the Sam’s Circle Walmart as an overnight stocker and trainer for more than a year, was in the break room when the shooting happened and she narrowly avoided being shot. Six store employees were shot and killed when police said 31-year-old Andre Bing, an overnight manager for Walmart, entered the break room and began shooting people before killing himself.
Prioleau’s lawsuit, filed in Chesapeake Circuit Court, outlines a series of complaints she made about Bing in the two months prior to the shooting. According to the lawsuit, Prioleau said Bing harassed her and made comments about her age, asking “Isn’t your lady clock ticking? Shouldn’t you be having kids?” She said she submitted a complaint on Sept. 10 to Walmart management. Prioleau’s mother spoke with the store’s manager and was told “there was nothing that could be done about Mr. Bing because he was liked by management,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also details behavior by the manager before the shooting that disturbed Prioleau. Her lawsuit states that the manager asked Prioleau if she liked guns, and told store employees and managers that if he was fired he would retaliate and “people will remember my name.” The lawsuit said he also “repeatedly” asked his co-workers if they had received their active shooter training. When employees said they had been trained, the lawsuit said he smiled and walked away.
Bing, who had worked at the store since 2010, had been demoted at some point due to complaints about his interactions with co-workers, but had been reinstated as a team lead, the lawsuit states.
Walmart has not responded to multiple requests for comment on complaints made against the shooter.
The lawsuit alleges “Mr. Bing’s behavior prior to the shooting put Walmart on notice that Mr. Bing was violent and could harm others.”
“While the cruelty of murdering six defenseless people is truly unimaginable, Ms. Prioleau alleges that she and her co-workers had been concerned for months that such an incident could occur at any time,” reads a statement from Prioleau’s attorneys John Morgan and Peter Anderson of Morgan & Morgan. “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.”
Prioleau’s lawsuit states that she witnessed her co-workers being shot and killed around her, and since the shooting she’s experienced sleeplessness, flashbacks, severe anxiety, stomach pain, nightmares, loss of appetite and other physical ailments.
“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.”
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