Walmart Speaks Out After Two Mass Shootings Occur at Stores Within 24 Hours

Walmart stores have been hit by a second multiple shooting in just over 24 hours. A gunman walked into a Walmart in Ohio and opened fire on shoppers on Monday just a day after two people were shot dead at another of the chain's stores in Alaska.

Gunfire tore through the Walmart located in the 300 block of Pentagon Boulevard in Beavercreek, Ohio, on Monday evening. Four people were hurt and the shooter is thought to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, police said.

A Walmart spokesperson said the retailer was "heartbroken." The incident came just a day after a man and woman were shot dead by a suspect in the busy parking lot of a Walmart in Anchorage, Alaska, shortly after 5:10 p.m. on Sunday evening.

Walmart has 4,717 stores across the U.S., according to figures compiled by Statista. That means statistically the chain will occasionally find itself to be the site of a shooting as the U.S. battles to deal with spiraling gun crime .

In a sign of how desperate things have become, multiple countries have even issued travel warnings to their citizens about the dangers of visiting America. The Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings across the country, has calculated that 38,269 people have died after being shot so far this year, although that figure also includes suicides and accidental deaths.

Walmart inadvertently found itself the site of two shootings within two days as gunfire broke out at stores in Ohio and Alaska. Pictured: Police tape seals of a crime scene following another shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, in this archive image taken on November 23, last year.

Nathan Howard/

A series of official updates posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter , alerted residents to the Ohio shooting on Monday. Beavercreek Police Department posted that officers were "on the scene of a shooting at the Walmart in Beavercreek this evening."

A follow-up post two hours later read: "UPDATE: There is no active threat. A male walked into the Walmart in Beavercreek around 8:35 p.m. Monday and began firing a gun, injuring four people. The victims were transported to area hospitals and their conditions are unknown at this time.

UPDATE: There is no active threat. A male walked into the Walmart in Beavercreek around 8:35 p.m. Monday and began firing a gun, injuring four people. The victims were transported to area hospitals and their conditions are unknown at this time.

— Beavercreek PD November 21, 2023

"Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation; FBI; as well as other local agencies are on scene assisting with the investigation. Again, there is no active threat.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families impacted by this horrific tragedy. We will release more information as it becomes available.

"A fifth person, the shooter, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No shots were fired by any responding police officers."

The condition of the hospitalized victims is not yet clear;