A fourth Walmart employee who was injured in last year’s mass shooting in Chesapeake filed suit September 8 against the corporation and the estate of the shooter.
Sarah Merlo claims the company ignored complaints about the shooter’s “sadistic, erratic and harassing” behavior for years, according to a copy of the lawsuit. Her allegations are almost identical to the other three suits pending against the retail giant.
On the night of Nov. 22, 2022, the suit alleges, the shooter specifically targeted Merlo after releasing another employee. He approached her, ignored her pleas to stop and shot her seven times.
That night, the shooter killed six coworkers and injured four others, including Merlo, before taking his own life.
Merlo said the shooter, a night supervisor, held “intense animus” toward her and other employees, and frequently assigned her difficult tasks, criticizing her when she failed to complete them.
Merlo’s suit says getting shot isn’t a reasonable expectation of working at the store — that Merlo was targeted individually by the shooter, who Walmart failed to fire or discipline, and “faces a lifetime of medical care” from her seven bullet wounds. She’s asking for $20 million in damages from both parties.
The store reopened in April 2023 after being remodeled. A memorial to the victims was built next to one entrance.
Merlo’s lawyer, Craig Davis of Richmond firm Reinhardt Harper Davis, and representatives of Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment.