Youngest victim in Virginia Walmart shooting was a 16-year-old employee

Jared Gans
·1 min read
2

The youngest victim of the shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., on Tuesday was a 16-year-old employee, authorities announced.

Officials released the name of the boy, Fernando Chavez-Barron, on Friday, two days after they released the names of the five other victims, all of whom were adults. Family and friends held a vigil for Chavez-Barron in the Chesapeake Walmart’s parking lot on Thursday.

A family friend, Rosy Perez, told The New York Times that Chavez-Barron worked an overnight shift at Walmart to help his family while attending high school.

“He wanted to help a little bit,” she said. “He was a very good child.”

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The five other victims were 52-year-old Kellie Pyle, 38-year-old Brian Pendleton, 43-year-old Lorenzo Gamble, 70-year-old Randy Blevins and 22-year-old Tyneka Johnson. All the victims were from Chesapeake except Johnson, who was from the nearby city of Portsmouth.

Officials identified the shooter as a 31-year-old who was an employee at the store for more than 10 years. He was armed with a handgun and multiple magazines and died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds after fatally shooting the six people and injuring several others.

Authorities have said that the shooter purchased the gun legally hours before the shooting and released a note found on his phone that mentioned people he believed had betrayed him.

“That’s why they suffer the same fate as me,” he wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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