A Walmart employee who escaped a mass shooting at a Chesapeake store in November refiled her lawsuit against the company this week with new details about her experience that night.
A Chesapeake Circuit Court judge in April sustained Walmart’s attempt to have Briana Tyler’s lawsuit seeking $50 million in damages dismissed, but gave Tyler’s lawyers 30 days to refile with new evidence. Tyler’s latest filing highlights several instances in which she alleges the shooter personally targeted her, which were not previously presented.
Tyler was in the breakroom with her coworkers at the start of her shift Nov. 22 when her shift supervisor, who was set to lead a meeting, opened fire. He went on to kill six people and himself that night, and injured others.
The amended complaint, filed Thursday, states the shooter looked her in the eyes, pointed his gun at her and pulled the trigger — but missed. Another detail not included in Tyler’s previous filing: The shooter looked at another employee and told her to go home, allowing her out unharmed.
Once the shooter left the breakroom, he began chasing an unknown employee but once he saw Tyler trying to escape, he stopped to again focus on her, according to the complaint.
“Upon information and belief, Briana was the only individual (the gunman) chased all the way into the store, firing his gun,” the complaint reads.
It continues, “The attempted murder of the plaintiff, in a mass shooting … cannot be fairly traced to Briana’s employment at Walmart, and was personal to the plaintiff, and not simply common to Walmart employees …”
At the April hearing, lawyers for Walmart focused on the description of the shooter’s targets as being “random” in Tyler’s previous complaint to support their argument that the employees were shot simply because they worked there, thus are only entitled to worker’s compensation rather than compensatory damages.
Tyler’s new filing also adds simple negligence and willful and wanton negligence to the charges against the company. The previous filing only charged Walmart with negligent retention, respondeat superior liability, gross negligence, and attempted murder against the shooter’s estate — which is Walmart’s co-defendant in the lawsuit.
It’s unclear when Walmart will respond. In the aftermath of the shooting, two other surviving employees have sued Walmart for $50 million, and the estate of an employee who was killed sued for $45 million over the company’s role in the shooting. The plaintiffs have since dropped these suits, but are able to refile.
Tyler is seeking a trial by jury.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com