One new oyster reef being installed in the Chesapeake Bay by a Virginia company will be full of mollusks that aren’t necessarily destined for your dinner plate.
Improving the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay is often tied with efforts to boost the population of crabs, oysters and other native species that also help the region’s seafood industry stay afloat.
More oysters and crabs in the water mean more can be harvested by watermen and the seafood houses up and down the bay.
But one new oyster reef being installed by a Virginia company will be full of mollusks that aren’t necessarily destined for your dinner plate.
Acre Investment Management is targeting some of the most polluted parts of the Chesapeake Bay’s tributaries — with no intention of seeing those shellfish ever get harvested, since they’re going in waters that could end up making you sick if you ate too many.
Here, their primary focus is using marine bivalves to filter out that water.
ACRE Investment Management is planting about 6 million new oysters in Urbanna Creek, Virginia, which is about 60 miles east of Richmond and not far from where the Rappahannock River empties out into the Chesapeake Bay.
“We put in too much nitrogen and phosphorus into our river systems that made it to the bay, and therefore caused problems,” said Chandler Van Voorhis, co-founder of ACRE. “And then we stripped out too many oysters for consumption side, which were the filter feeders.”
Instead of profiting from the harvesting of those oysters later on, ACRE works with private landowners there to set up nutrient credits through the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. When developers build things upstream, they’ll purchase those credits from companies such as ACRE to offset the impact of their building.
What will it take
Once upon a time, there were enough oysters in the Chesapeake Bay that the water could be totally filtered in three to four days. Now, it takes about 400 days.
The goal is to eventually restore 100,000 acres of the bay and capture 10 million tons of carbon.
“There are tremendous amounts of contaminated areas where oyster harvesting is prohibited because the water quality is so poor. … The government doesn’t want you to harvest oysters for safety reasons,” Van Voorhis said. “So those are very natural, easy areas for us to go in and say, ‘OK, let’s go fix that situation.’”
ACRE also manages the world’s largest reforestation project, planting trees around the Commonwealth and quantifying the amount of carbon captured.
“Up until the carbon market started coming around in the mid ’90s … the only time, for example, a tree showed up on a balance sheet is when a chainsaw hit it when it was being turned into a product,” Van Voorhis said. “Same thing with oysters. The only time an oyster reef has had any value is through the consumption of that oyster reef.”
While they anticipate some of those oysters will be harvested over time — they can’t exactly police those beds 24/7 — that’s not the benefit of the creation of these new oyster beds.
“That good is providing clean water and clean air,” Van Voorhis said. “What we’re trying to do is put a lot more oysters back. Use a different approach to the financing so that we’re able to help other efforts and parallel efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.”
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A new College of William & Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology report details the struggle Ospreys face to reproduce and raise viable chicks in the Chesapeake region.
File photo of an Osprey with a fish returning to the nest to feed chicks. (Courtesy Dave Gelenter/CBF Staff)
File photo of an Osprey with a fish returning to the nest to feed chicks. (Courtesy Dave Gelenter/CBF Staff)
A new report from a Virginia college details the struggle Ospreys face to reproduce and raise viable chicks.
The College of William & Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology report examined the breeding performance during the 2024 season, which lasted from March through August.
It found that ospreys in the salt water and brackish water have an especially difficult situation because of a lack food sources, a trend Ospreys in the Chesapeake region continue to face.
Ospreys in the stem of the Chesapeake Bay, especially in Virginia and southern Maryland, are particularly struggling to produce viable chicks, according to the report. The overall reproductive rate for pairs of ospreys in this area is approximately half what is needed just to maintain the existing population.
Asymmetric broods, groups of hatchlings where one young bird receives more food than the other, were common and throughout the main stem of the Chesapeake. On average, osprey pairs lost 1.1 bird between hatching and fledging.
The report said poor breeding was driven by the loss of those young chicks. The researchers said in their study that it is “a clear indicator” of food stress when they begin to see asymmetric broods.
Researchers pointed to one camera-observed nest where the female osprey hatched three eggs, two of the chicks were not fed as often as the third one and died quickly. The third one, the largest of the brood, lived another four days, but died after 38 hours with no food.
In the stem area of the Chesapeake, the main food source for ospreys is a fish called menhaden. It is also commercial fished, particularly to the south.
Reedville, Virginia-based Omega Protein Corporation operates the only menhaden reduction plant left on the Atlantic coast. Reduction is a process that converts the fish into supplements, livestock feed and feed for fish farms.
The study found ospreys in fresher waters, inland of the bay, had a surplus of hatchlings and were reproducing above maintenance levels. Their diet consists of mainly catfish and gizzard head.
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Part 2 of WTOP’s Claws and Effect series looks at the competition the Chesapeake Bay blue crab is facing under the water.
This week, WTOP takes you from the bottom of the bay to the picnic table in our four-part series Claws and Effect: The murky future of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab. Listen on air and read it online. This is Part 2. Read Part 1 here.
The seafood industry around the waters and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay has seen better days, but it’s also had worse days. While things have rebounded to some degree in recent years, there are increasing concerns about what the future might hold.
Those concerns exist within the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, as well as on the boats used by watermen who harvest crabs by the bushel. It’s not just juvenile crabs that are disappearing, it’s the people who harvest the adult crabs, too. So while things are fine now, the future of the popular crustacean might be as murky as some of the muddy bottoms they traverse.
Mystery lurking in the water
Earlier this year, the state of Maryland estimated the crab population in the bay to be around 317 million. In 2023, it was estimated to be around 323 million.
Adult crabs, both male and female, also saw population declines, with the adult female count falling from 152 million to 132 million. While it’s a significant drop, it’s still well above the 72.5 million that’s considered the minimum threshold to sustain the population.
The future of the crab population, the number of juvenile crabs, has been considered below average for the last four years. That’s baffling scientists.
“Technically, the population is fine,” said Mandy Bromilow, who is the blue crab program manager for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “It’s just that the concern that we have is where we’re seeing this sort of mismatch in the amount of females and the amount of juveniles.”
Right now, she doesn’t believe it’s because watermen are overharvesting the crab population. But that just means there’s a mystery lurking in the water.
“What should be adequate female numbers aren’t translating into the low or into higher juvenile abundance,” she said. “The trends that we’re seeing with low recruitment (the term used to describe the reproductive patterns of crabs), in particular, are a little bit concerning because we don’t know what’s causing that.”
While things are fine now, the future of the popular crustacean might be as murky as some of the muddy bottoms they traverse.
(WTOP/John Domen)
WTOP/John Domen
The future of the crab population, the number of juvenile crabs, has been considered below average for the last four years.
(WTOP/John Domen)
WTOP/John Domen
Some experts are most worried about predators living in the waters with the crabs.
(WTOP/John Domen)
WTOP/John Domen
But there are some theories.
When female crabs go to spawn, they travel from Maryland all the way down to around the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Their eggs are released and juveniles go through larval stages in coastal waters, then winds and ocean currents carry them back into the Chesapeake Bay, where they become juvenile crabs. Eventually, assuming they don’t end up in a bigger fish’s belly, they become adult crabs. But they can’t get there on their own.
Storms and predators could threaten crab population
“If the weather patterns and storms push those juveniles or larval blue crabs out into the ocean, rather than into the bay, we’re sort of losing those blue crabs to our population (in the) Chesapeake Bay,” said Bromilow.
Similar concerns are held by Jason Ruth, who owns Harris Seafood Company, a processing facility in Grasonville.
“A lot of going forward is based on environmental factors,” said Ruth. “If you have storms where the crabs are actually migrating to, if they’re migrating out in the ocean, do they come back into the Chesapeake Bay the following year?”
“The biggest problem we have is invasive species that are eating up the crabs when they’re in their most vulnerable state,” said Ruth. “The blue catfish — it’s getting a lot of media attention right now, and it needs to, because it is a species that’s uncontrolled. Its population is rising rapidly and getting to a point that it’s going to cause some serious damage here in the near future.”
It’s one species of fish that scientists know likes to eat crab (as much as any group of friends with a picnic table and a cooler full of beer). But it still isn’t known how much of a problem the blue catfish presents.
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WTOP looks at the murky future of the Chesapeake blue crab
“We know that they’re eating juvenile blue crabs, or blue crabs in general,” said Bromilow. “We just don’t know how much. That’s kind of the issue where we don’t have enough data.”
There’s also concern that warming waters could make the Chesapeake Bay more inviting to other fish species like the red drum.
“We know puppy drum are in grass beds, eating juvenile blue crabs,” said Bromilow. “With the longer warm season, they might have more of an opportunity to be feeding on those juveniles.”
Are Chesapeake Bay crabs OK for now?
For now, those are all just theories shared by both scientists and at least some watermen — two sides that don’t always agree on everything. But currently, population levels are in a good place, and Ruth said what looked like a really dismal season at the start of the summer has really picked up.
So in the short term, at least, everyone is content. The information available now suggests that could drastically change down the line.
“We need that high recruitment to keep that population coming back every year,” said Bromilow. “That could be a problem in the future and we just don’t know what’s causing that.”
It’s entirely possible that what’s known as a “stock assessment” no longer offers scientists the most accurate information about the crab population.
Back in the spring, the state began a new stock assessment of the crab population, which is a series of models and analytical formulas used to determine what the future might hold. They are complex and take into account things like what the presumed mortality rates of crabs really are, which can be influenced both by predators as well as harvests by watermen. It’s then applied to the winter dredge surveys that count the number of crabs currently in the bay.
“We can say there’s a specific predation rate and plug that into our model, and then it will show us what affect that is having on the population,” Bromilow said.
But if those numbers are off, then it skews all the other data that are used to predict the future.
“Are we assuming the right amount of natural mortality is removing crabs in the population? Or are we assuming the recruitment (of new juvenile crabs) is coming in at this specific rate?” she asked.
The last time all of that was reassessed was in 2010. The updated stock assessment formulas won’t be finished until the spring of 2026.
“Based on the current framework, the numbers are OK,” said Bromilow.
That might not be the case later on though.
In Part 3 of our series, we talk with a waterman about the future of the aging industry.
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The push is on to get blue catfish on more restaurant menus, dinner plates, and anywhere else that can keep the population manageable (if not eradicated) as they continue to overtake the Chesapeake Bay, eating almost everything in its sight.
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Can Maryland convince you to eat fish that aren’t native to the bay?
While there have been improvements, there remains a fragile ecosystem within the Chesapeake Bay. Among the growing problems are some of the animals that live and swim in those waters.
That’s because they’re not supposed to be in those waters but have found their way in and really enjoy it.
There are doubts in the state of Maryland that the invasive blue catfish will ever disappear. But the push is on to get it on more restaurant menus, dinner plates, and anywhere else that can keep the population manageable (if not eradicated) as they keep swimming north from the Virginia end of the Chesapeake Bay, eating almost everything in its sight.
“It’s kind of the perfect invasive species,” said Chris Jones, whose job with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources is to focus on invasive species like the blue catfish and the Chesapeake Channa, also known as the snakehead fish.
People don’t necessarily think of a blue catfish as native to the Chesapeake region, so when it’s probably not something one thinks about ordering. The state is hoping to change that.
Maryland is launching a campaign aimed at making the blue catfish more popular as a meal. The effort includes publishing recipes and marketing that says your dinner makes a difference for the Bay and those who work on it.
At the same time, Jones is aware that the blue catfish problem probably can’t be eaten away, no matter how many you order, so they’re also investigating future uses of the blue catfish in pet food and for fertilizing compost.
“This is a great, delicious meat that can be cooked so many different ways and (for) so many different things, and provide a good, nutritious, delicious meal for folks,” said Jones. “This is a fish that’s commercially, recreationally viable. They’re delicious. They are abundant as they can be, and it provides a unique opportunity for watermen to make a living with something different, to fill some income or subsidize some of the other stuff that they tend to do.”
Scientists have found lots of animals, including rock fish, inside the bellies of blue catfish. But one of their favorite things to eat are the blue crabs that swim on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
“Right out here in this Chester River, we didn’t have blue catfish five years ago. Now, we have commercial fishery based in the river. So it’s not very good,” said Jason Ruth, the owner of Harris Seafood Company on Kent Island. “I don’t know where the future is going to be in it, but we need to at least get it in check so they can keep the balance of all the other species that are here as well.”
Next door to the processing plant that Ruth operates sits Harris Crab House. And on the menu is a fried blue catfish po’boy sandwich.
“The fish is great,” said Ruth, who said it’s similar to perch, which are in abundance in the bay and also among an angler’s favorite to eat, though also really easy to catch. “It’s a nice, beautiful white fish. It’s flaky. It cooks up easy. It’s a cheap protein, and that’s what you need in today’s time.”
He hopes the fish will be featured on even more menus, and the state is trying to help.
“They are estimating that blue catfish are eating about 400 metric tons of blue crabs in a year, which is about 4% of the harvest of the state of Virginia,” said Jones. “But then consider that harvest crabs are five inches or larger. These blue catfish are working on juvenile crab. So 400 metric tons of juvenile crabs is a significantly larger quantity of crab than eating five inch, six inch, eight-inch crabs. So it’s become a huge problem.”
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Anglers cannot target certain types of fish in certain parts of Maryland for the time being, and extreme heat is to blame.
Recreational fishers and anglers cannot target certain types of fish in certain parts of Maryland for the time being and extreme heat is to blame.
This week, the state began encouraging people fishing in areas designated for catch and release to not target trout, and in the Chesapeake Bay and tidal tributaries, targeting striped bass is prohibited until the end of the month.
“This is to protect the population of fish and avoid additional mortality during the hottest time of the year, which is typically mid-July into early August,” said Erik Zlokovitz, recreational fisheries coordinator for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Zlokovitz said this summer, especially with instances of extreme heat, water temperatures have reached the upper 60s and low 70s — temperatures that can really stress out and risk the lives of fish in catch-and-release areas.
“We have high temperatures, low oxygen, which is a bad combination,” Zlokovitz said.
When it comes to striped bass, Zlokovitz said the heat isn’t the only reason for the restriction, since the summer prohibition has been in place since 2020. Around that time, the state of Maryland saw a big spike in the number of fish dying after being caught and released.
When the temperature of the water rises, fish go deeper or toward the mouths of cold water streams or rivers, seeking cooler water. The problem for striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay is there a limitation on how deep they can go.
“The problem in the bay is we have an issue with low dissolved oxygen as well. So they can’t go too deep or otherwise, the striped bass will have some issues with low oxygen,” he said.
The bass fishery is expected to open back up Aug. 1, but those fishing in the bay can expect advisories on days when the temperature outside exceeds 95 degrees. Zlokovitz also said advisories for trout are expected to continue until things cool down.
Zlokovitz said there are fish that the state welcomes everyone to fish for right now — invasive blue catfish and Chesapeake Channa, better known as the northern snakehead fish, which are challenging the state’s ecosystem by eating smaller native fish, freshwater clams and blue crabs.
“So we’re targeting all these invasive fish. They provide sport and a lot of fun times for our anglers in Maryland and, by the way, they’re also excellent to eat and are served at several restaurants,” he said.
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Blue catfish grow to large sizes, are tasty to eat and can be easily caught in the majority of Maryland’s rivers — the problem is they’re considered invasive, locally, and are a threat to other native fish and aquatic life.
Blue catfish grow to large sizes, are tasty to eat and can be easily caught in the majority of Maryland’s rivers — the problem is they’re considered invasive and are a threat to other native fish and aquatic life.
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources is urging people fishing in the area to target blue catfish.
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources is urging people looking to do some local fishing to target blue catfish, which are an invasive species locally. (Courtesy Stephen Badger, Maryland Department of Natural Resources)
“Catch and keep as many as you want, any sizes,” said Branson Williams, the department’s invasive fishes program manager. “They’re really a tasty fish, and we’re encouraging people to eat them.”
Blue catfish are native to midwestern river basins, including the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Rio Grande rivers, Williams said.
The freshwater fish were introduced in Virginia during the 1970s to create a new sport fishery, according to the MDNR’s website.
“They were stocked in Virginia and across the country to form these recreational fisheries, because they reach large sizes and they taste good,” Williams said. “The world record is 143 pounds, out of Virginia.”
However, they don’t just thrive in freshwater rivers.
“Turns out they do pretty well in brackish waters, so they’ve spread throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed in the past 20 years or so,” Williams said. “They now occupy all tributaries of the Bay, and even the Bay proper, in the upper bay and middle bay.”
Not only has the blue catfish expanded its range, but also its abundance: “They’re everywhere,” Williams said.
Catfish eat a lot of different aquatic animals, including ones that are important to Maryland.
“They do eat a significant amount of blue crab, white perch, Atlantic menhaden, which are species that have cultural and commercial importance to the region,” Williams said. “Blue catfish are associated with decreased abundance of white catfish, which are our native catfish.”
Williams said blue catfish are so prominent they can be caught in a variety of ways, off boats and by dropping a line off a riverbank.
“People use a wide variety of baits to catch them, everything from fresh cut fish, like fresh Atlantic menhaden — blue catfish eat chicken livers,” Williams said. “I’ve heard of people soaking chicken breast in garlic, and different flavors of Jell-O to catch them.”
The MDNR offers specific locations with large blue catfish populations on its website.
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Two Maryland watermen work to harvest oysters.
(WTOP/John Domen)
As the commercial oyster season starts to wind down, it’s clear that things have vastly improved from just 20 years ago, when disease and death meant watermen harvested just 26,000 bushels of oysters. Last year, that number was more than 720,000 bushels, according to Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. For state leaders, it’s a success story, and an indication that conservation efforts and restrictions are working. But they also admit there’s some luck involved.
“We’ve done a lot of work on restoration of the big five,” said Lynn Fegley, the director of fishing and boating services with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. She was referring to the five oyster sanctuaries that are now off limits to harvesting: Harris Creek and the Little Choptank, Tred Avon River, St. Mary’s River and Manokin River. All but the St. Mary’s are located on the Eastern Shore, and together they make up almost 25% of the state’s prime oyster beds.
“Between restoration, managing the fishery and just plain luck from mother nature, I think that’s what’s gotten us into this place,” she said.
In this case, luck is relative, since she’s referring to recent summertime droughts that have hampered farming in the mid-Atlantic. But with less rain water draining into the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, those waters saw an increase in salinity levels.
“Higher salinity is helpful for oysters to settle,” Fegley said. “When we had this dry period where the water was saltier, that’s what really kicks oysters into gear, in terms of producing a good spat set.”
It also means a better tasting oyster right now, at least in Brown’s opinion.
“It’s got good meat into them here and it’s our future. We needed this to bring it back,” Brown said.
2/5
A pile of oysters spread out flat as Maryland watermen work.
(WTOP/John Domen)
Brown, who is also the president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, said the repeated rainfall that’s drenched the mid-Atlantic the past couple of months will reduce that salinity at a time when oysters need that to boost their immune system and avoid disease.
But just when supplies are rising, demand appears to be waning, meaning Maryland’s watermen are making less money than they used to.
“Well, it’s very simple. I think seafood is a luxury,” Brown said.
Even though many economic indicators are and have been positive for a while, it doesn’t mean people haven’t been wary about spending on certain things. And Brown said at the grocery store the amount of chicken or beef you can get for $35 goes a lot further than the amount of oysters you can get for $35. That’s sent the price of a bushel of oysters from $45-50 down to around $35.
“When you’re down that much on your sales, that’s your gross, that’s where you profit is,” Brown said. “Your profit is not in the first bushel you catch, it’s in the last bushel you catch because you know you got to keep the boots up, the equipment up.”
3/5
The back of a boat driving along Maryland’s waterways.
(WTOP/John Domen)
That’s all happening even though watermen have had to cutback on the amount of time they can be out dredging for oysters.
When watermen could sell a bushel for $50 — 20 bushels a day could bring in $1,000. But now, selling each bushel for $35, the same amount of oysters brings in $700.
That $300 difference every day starts to add up, Brown said.
But Brown said the seafood industry usually lets one population rebound while another product is in high demand.
“When oysters fell off the past few years, crabbing picked up, so that’s the reason why we have to be able to diversify,” he said. “We can go crab more, and then when oysters picks up, that takes the pressure off the crab. So that can rebound.”
4/5
Three waterman work to harvest oysters.
(WTOP/John Domen)
In the meantime, the state of Maryland is trying to help improve the market and perception of the state’s oyster industry, which has to compete with oysters from the north Atlantic as well as the Gulf of Mexico. Late last year, Matthew Scales was hired to serve as the Director of Seafood Marketing for the state’s Department of Agriculture. He’s aware of the challenges.
“We’ve been fearing a recession for a while now and people tightening their budget,” said Scales, who was in Boston this week for the North American Seafood Expo. “We haven’t had a recession. The economy has been stable.”
Now it’s about trying to push a message of “hey, it’s OK to celebrate.”
“Have a birthday, anniversary, celebrate around seafood. Seafood is a great source of protein and it’s a great item to splurge on every once in a while and you’ve got to treat yourself,” Scales said.
“This is a premium product,” he added.
5/5
Oyster populations are rebounding in Maryland.
(WTOP/John Domen)
Early efforts, including a marketing campaign that tied Maryland’s oysters to its local beer industry, FeBREWary, showed signs of success, he said. Scales is working with restaurants in the Annapolis area to celebrate National Oyster on the Half Shell Day on March 31, he said. Later this year, he’ll be going to an expo hosted by the USDA and the National Restaurant Association in the hopes of opening up more midwestern markets to Maryland’s watermen.
It’s work that Brown appreciates, even if he’s skeptical that the right marketing campaign will bring prices back up again. At the same time, he still sees a much brighter future for an industry he’s been working in since the 1960s, when he was in high school.
“With all these little oysters, we got a bright future for us,” Brown said. “It’s what we’ve been needing. They help filter the water in the bay, clean the water up and also it gives us a place where we can look forward, where we can make our living in the future.”
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John started working at WTOP in 2016 after having grown up in Maryland listening to the station as a child. While he got his on-air start at small stations in Pennsylvania and Delaware, he’s spent most of his career in the D.C. area, having been heard on several local stations before coming to WTOP.
Chesapeake, Virginia — The Walmart supervisor who shot and killed six co-workers in Virginia seemed to target people and fired at some victims after they were already hit and appeared to be dead, said a witness who was present when the shooting started. Jessica Wilczewski said workers were gathered in a store break room to begin their overnight shift late Tuesday when team leader Andre Bing entered and opened fire with a handgun. While another witness has described Bing as shooting wildly, Wilczewski said she observed him target certain people.
“The way he was acting — he was going hunting,” Wilczewski told The Associated Press on Thursday. “The way he was looking at people’s faces and the way he did what he did, he was picking people out.”
She said she observed him shoot at people who were already on the ground.
“What I do know is that he made sure who he wanted dead, was dead,” she said. “He went back and shot dead bodies that were already dead. To make sure.”
Wilczewski said she had only worked at the store for five days and didn’t know with whom Bing got along or had problems. She said being a new employee may have been the reason she was spared.
She said that after the shooting started, a co-worker sitting next to her pulled her under the table to hide. She said that at one point, Bing told her to get out from under the table. But when he saw who she was, he told her, “Jessie, go home.” She said she slowly got up and then ran out of the store.
Police are trying to determine a motive, while former coworkers are struggling to make sense of the rampage in Chesapeake, a city of about 250,000 people near Virginia’s coast.
CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reported Thursday that the gunman’s last couple weeks on the job may provide some insight as to why he lashed out, as multiple reports have said his phone contains notes in which he complained about his job, and his coworkers.
Some of those who worked with Bing, 31, said he had a reputation for being an aggressive, if not hostile, supervisor, who once admitted to having “anger issues.” But he also could make people laugh and seemed to be dealing with the typical stresses at work that many people endure.
“I don’t think he had many people to fall back on in his personal life,” said Nathan Sinclair, who worked at the Walmart for nearly a year before leaving earlier this month.
Law enforcement work the scene of a mass shooting at a Walmart, November 23, 2022, in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Alex Brandon/AP
During chats among coworkers, “We would be like ‘work is consuming my life.’ And (Bing) would be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t have a social life anyway,’” Sinclair recalled Thursday.
Sinclair said he and Bing did not get along. Bing was known for being “verbally hostile” to employees and wasn’t particularly well-liked, Sinclair said. But there were times when Bing was made fun of and not necessarily treated fairly.
“There’s no telling what he could have been thinking. … You never know if somebody really doesn’t have any kind of support group,” Sinclair said.
On balance, Bing seemed pretty normal to Janice Strausburg, who knew him from working at Walmart for 13 years before leaving in June.
Bing could be “grumpy” but could also be “placid,” she said. He made people laugh and told Strausburg he liked dance. When she invited him to church, he declined but mentioned that his mother had been a preacher.
Members of the FBI search the home of the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting at a Walmart, November 23, 2022, in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Nathan Howard/Getty
Strausburg thought Bing’s grumpiness was due to the stresses that come with any job. He also once told her that he had “had anger issues” and complained he was going to “get the managers in trouble.”
She never expected this.
“I think he had mental issues,” Strausburg said Thursday. “What else could it be?”
Tuesday night’s violence in Chesapeake was the nation’s second high-profile mass shooting in four days. Bing was dead when officers reached the store in the state’s second-largest city. Authorities said he apparently shot himself.
Police have identified the victims as Brian Pendleton, 38; Kellie Pyle, 52; Lorenzo Gamble, 43; and Randy Blevins, 70, who were all from Chesapeake; and Tyneka Johnson, 22, of nearby Portsmouth. The dead also included a 16-year-old boy whose name was withheld because of his age, police said.
Photos provided by the Chesapeake, Virginia, Police Department show, from top left, Tyneka Johnson, Brian Pendleton and Randy Blevins, and on the bottom,Kellie Pyle and Lorenzo Gamble, who police identified as victims of a Nov. 22, 2022 shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake. The other victim was a 16-year-old who was not identified by police due to their age.
Chesapeake Police Department/AP
A Walmart spokesperson confirmed in an email that all of the victims worked for the company.
Krystal Kawabata, a spokesperson for the FBI’s field office in Norfolk, Virginia, confirmed the agency is assisting police with the investigation but directed all inquiries to the Chesapeake Police Department, the lead investigative agency.
Another Walmart employee, Briana Tyler, has said Bing appeared to fire at random.
“He was just shooting all throughout the room. It didn’t matter who he hit,” Tyler told the AP Wednesday.
Six people also were wounded in the shooting, which happened just after 10 p.m. as shoppers were stocking up ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Police said they believe about 50 people were in the store at the time.
Bing was identified as an overnight team leader who had been a Walmart employee since 2010. Police said he had one handgun and several magazines of ammunition.
Tyler said the overnight stocking team of 15 to 20 people had just gathered in the break room to go over the morning plan. Another team leader had begun speaking when Bing entered the room and opened fire, Tyler and Wiczewski said.
Tyler, who started working at Walmart two months ago and had worked with Bing just a night earlier, said she never had a negative encounter with him, but others told her he was “the manager to look out for.” She said Bing had a history of writing up people for no reason.
Chet Barnett and his wife Debbie hug and stand in a moment of silence in the parking lot of a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, November 24, 2022, two days after a store employee opened fire in a break room, killing six colleagues.
Mike Caudill/The Washington Post/Getty
Wilczewski said she tried but could not bring herself to visit a memorial in the store’s parking lot Wednesday.
“I wrote a letter and I wanted to put it out there,” she said. “I wrote to the ones I watched die. And I said that I’m sorry I wasn’t louder. I’m sorry you couldn’t feel my touch. But you weren’t alone.”
According to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the United States this year, including at least 36 incidents with four or more fatalities.
A criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Alan Fox, who has compiled data on shootings in the U.S. for decades, reported the same figure, which he said had made 2022 a record year for such attacks even prior to the incident at the Walmart in Chesapeake.
“I’ve been studying mass killings for over 40 years and I am quite confident that there has never been a year where we’ve had so many,” said Fox in an article published Monday by Northeastern, in the wake of the Colorado shooting.
