DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) — Two people were shot Wednesday at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. distribution center in Virginia, a county official said.
Dinwiddie County Fire Department spokeswoman Denice Marrs said one person was airlifted from the center after the shooting, around noontime. She did not know the conditions of either shooting victim or whether a suspect was in custody.
County and state police are at the center, located in a rural area off U.S. 460. The Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Department, state police and Wal-Mart didn't immediately return calls seeking information. Dinwiddie is about 30 miles south of Richmond.
Distribution center employees and family members gathered in the parking lot of a now-closed school near the facility. Several employees declined to comment and referred all questions to Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters in Arkansas.
The company notified employees about 2:30 p.m. that they were cleared to enter the distribution center for their shifts, according to workers who declined to give their names.
Robin Perkinson said she hasn't yet heard from her husband, Gary, a 16-year employee of the distribution center.
"It's really scary," said Perkinson, who was turned away when she arrived at the center.
She and other wives or relatives of employees planned to pick up their children early from school because they didn't want them to hear about the shooting from other people.
County school officials had locked down nearby Sutherland Elementary School as a precaution.
Sheri Athey, secretary to Superintendent David Clark, says the district's transportation director called school officials after he heard about the shootings on his police scanner.
The Wal-Mart distribution center employs about 600 people, said Tammy Collins, director of planning and community development for the Dinwiddie County Department of Economic Development. She said the 1.2 million-square-foot facility serves 72 stores and has been in Dinwiddie County for 20 years.
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