An employee who survived last week's shooting attack at a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia — in which six people were killed and four injured — filed a $50 million lawsuit against the company Tuesday for continuing to employ the suspected gunman, even though he "had known propensities for violence, threats, and strange behavior" toward other employees, Axios reported.
The lawsuit, filed by Donya Prioleau, alleges that she filed a complaint against the suspect, Andre Bing, 31, some two months before the shooting for making cruel and inappropriate comments about her, and that other complaints were also lodged against Bing.
Although Bing was disciplined "on several occasions," Prioleau stated that Walmart continued to employ him.
The lawsuit alleges that Bing "was known for being a mean and cruel supervisor" who would retaliate against co-workers "for the smallest perceived slight or inadequacy," and he also exhibited paranoid behavior, KIRO7 reported.
Attorneys John Morgan and Peter Anderson of Morgan & Morgan stated to KIRO7 that Prioleau and her co-workers "had been concerned for months that such an incident could occur at any time."
The lawyers stressed that "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."
According to the lawsuit, Prioleau has suffered post-traumatic distress disorder, including physical and emotional distress, from surviving and witnessing the shooting, according to Axios.
Police previously identified Bing as an overnight team leader who had worked at Walmart since 2010 and had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
City officials said that Bing had no criminal history. He bought a pistol on the morning of the shooting, leaving a note on his phone that revealed his intention to target some of his colleagues.
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