Walmart employee said she hid under a table and didn't run during mass shooting so coworkers 'wouldn't be alone in their last moments'

Flowers and balloons have been placed near the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Wednesday.
Tributes near the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Wednesday.AP Photo/Alex Brandon
  • A woman said she was in the break room when a manager started shooting her colleagues.

  • She said she wasn't hurt, and stayed when the shooter left so dying coworkers "wouldn't be alone."

  • Six people were killed in the Chesapeake, Virginia, store on Tuesday.

A Walmart employee who was in the break room where her colleague started to shoot her co-workers said she stayed in the room after they were hit so they would not be alone as they died.

Jessie Wilczewski told CNN that she was in the employee break room in the Chesapeake, Virginia, store on Tuesday when the shooter, a manager at the store, opened fired.

Six people were killed, and the gunman also killed himself, police said.

Wilczewski said she was in a meeting in the room when she saw the man pointing a gun in the doorway and then start to fire.

She told CNN that "it didn't register as real" at first.

Wilczewski said she hid under a table after the gunman left the room, and she could see some of her colleagues had been hit.

She said some were lying on the floor and others on their chairs, and she did not go because she did not want to leave them alone.

She said in a message to the families of two of the people killed: "I could have ran out that door … and I stayed. I stayed so they wouldn't be alone in their last moments," CNN reported.

It is not clear how many people were killed in the break room.

Wilczewski said the shooter later returned to the room, saw her under the table, and told her to leave the store.

She told CNN: "I had to touch the door which was covered [in blood.] I just remember gripping my bag and thinking, 'If he's going to shoot me in the back – well, he's going to have to try really hard cause I'm running,' and I booked it … and I didn't stop until I got to my car and then I had a meltdown."

Wilczewski previously told local news station WAVY-TV that the shooter told her to leave.

She said the gunman told her "Jessie, go home."

Walmart said in a statement to Insider that the accused had been working at that store since 2010 and was working as an overnight team lead there.

Police have not given a motive for the attack.

The victims are Lorenzo Gamble, Brian Pendleton, Kellie Pyle, Randall Blevins, Tyneka Johnson, and a male 16-year-old whose identity has been concealed given his age.

Read the original article on Insider