A survivor of the mass shooting at a Virginia Walmart filed a lawsuit against Walmart for $50 million on Tuesday.
The plaintiff is Donya Prioleau, a Walmart worker, who claims that the company kept allowing the alleged mass shooter to work at the store even though the shooter “had known propensities for violence, threats and strange behavior.”
“Despite [the shooter’s] long-standing pattern of disturbing and threatening behavior, Walmart did not enact any preventative measures to keep Walmart customers and employees safe,” the suit stated.
“Bullets whizzed by Plaintiff Donya Prioleau’s face and left side, barely missing her,” the lawsuit noted. “She witnessed several of her coworkers being brutally murdered on either side of her.”
“Ms. Prioleau looked at one of her coworkers in the eyes right after she had been shot in the neck. Ms. Prioleau saw the bullet wound in her coworker’s neck, the blood rushing out of it, and the shocked look on her coworker’s helpless face,” it included.
The shooter, who shall remain unnamed according to The Daily Wire’s mass shooter policy, shot and killed six workers and injured additional people before dying from a gunshot wound that was apparently self-inflicted, according to law enforcement.
Prioleau had put forward a formal complaint on a Walmart Global Ethics Statement Form regarding the shooter’s actions, who “had bizarrely and inappropriately commented on Ms. Prioleau’s age,” the lawsuit noted.
Prioleau’s mother also went to the store to talk with the manager “because she was very concerned for her daughter’s safety.” The manager “informed Ms. Prioleau that there was nothing that could be done about [the shooter] because he was liked by management,” according to the lawsuit.
“Walmart’s management … and others, had received numerous reports that [the shooter] had been acting inappropriately, bizarrely, and dangerously,” the complaint stated.
Lawyers John Morgan and Peter Anderson of the law firm Morgan and Morgan, which filed the lawsuit, put out a statement, saying, “[w]hile the cruelty of murdering six defenseless people is truly unimaginable, Ms. Prioleau alleges that she and her coworkers had been concerned for months that such an incident could occur at any time.”
“Our client alleges Walmart acknowledged her written complaint alleging harassment, but continued to employ the perpetrator. 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,” the statement noted. “Our hearts are broken for the families of those who lost loved ones and for those, like Ms. Prioleau, whose lives will never be the same because of this trauma. We will work to hold Walmart accountable for failing to stop this tragedy.”
Walmart said in a statement, per the Associated Press, that it was looking over the lawsuit and will reply “as appropriate with the court.”
“The entire Walmart family is heartbroken by the loss of the valued members of our team,” the company stated. “Our deepest sympathies go out to our associates and everyone impacted, including those who were injured. We are focused on supporting all our associates with significant resources, including counseling.”
Amanda Prestigiacomo contributed to this report.