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'It has kind of rocked us': After Walmart shooting, Chesapeake faces all-too-familiar scenes

'It has kind of rocked us': After Walmart shooting, Chesapeake faces all-too-familiar scenes

Dec 01, 2022 2 mins, 46 secs

Atkins, 49, lost a son to gun violence in 2014 – and in the last week, she watched it engulf the Virginia city where she lives, a place still reeling and raw.

One week earlier, a gunman at a Chesapeake Walmart left six employees there dead, making this city — for a moment — the scene of America's latest deadly mass shooting.

Vows to address a mental health crisis.

But while mass shootings may feel tragically routine at the national scale, that doesn't blunt the impact up close, said Bishop Kim Brown of the Mount Global Fellowship of Churches.

More: 'Am I safe being in public?' For many, mass shootings make a sense of danger inescapable.

On a chilly and dark Monday night in a Chesapeake city park, about 200 residents joined local and state leaders at a candlelight vigil meant to offer solace to a hurting community.

Glenn Youngkin highlighted the issue of mental health, saying he would work with doctors, faith groups, businesses and nonprofits to improve care. .

“I'm not alone in concluding that we have a mental health and a behavioral health crisis in the United States,” Youngkin said.

But Democratic State Senator Mamie Locke, who represents the area, said in an interview that boosting mental health services must be accompanied by stricter gun safety legislation – reflecting an issue that has long drawn heated debate in Virginia. 

“To have a governor stand up, and say that is all about mental health – and never mention the word gun – you know, it's insane,” she said

“It’s mental health," she said

But Amber Bowmer, 42, a substitute teacher who is a member of gun safety group Chesapeake Moms Demand Action, argued that mental health treatment was only "one component,” of the solution. 

And Locke said new gun legislation likely faces an uphill battle with the Republican majority in the state’s House of Delegates and a Republican governor

In Chesapeake, Brown said there’s encouraging talk of civic, faith and nonprofit groups collaborating to seek out solutions that could help prevent such attacks – though there were yet few concrete details

The city’s Walmart store, meantime, remains closed. Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, said in a statement that the company was “supporting all our associates with significant resources, including counseling.” Walmart is also helping families with travel and funeral expenses. 

While she's not yet sure how the attack might change Chesapeake, Atkins said one thing is sure – that national attention would soon fade as soon as the next mass shooting in America

So far this year, 202 people have died in 40 mass killings across the nation – defined as an incident in which four or more people are killed, not including the perpetrator – according to a database of mass killings maintained through a partnership between USA TODAY, the Associated Press and Northeastern University. Seven of those 40, including the Chesapeake tragedy, were shootings in public places. 

By this week – after an attack at Florida A&M University left four people wounded and one dead – Chesapeake was no longer the scene of America's latest deadly mass shooting

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