Chesapeake Dispels Target Active Shooter Rumor Hours After Walmart Tragedy

Rumors of an armed person at a Target in Chesapeake, Virginia circulated on Twitter Wednesday morning less than 12 hours after six people were fatally shot at a Walmart in the same city.

Panic and confusion ensued on Wednesday after local ABC affiliate 13News Now reported that police were investigating an armed gunman inside the store, saying that there were no reports of injuries at that time.

The Walmart shooting was the second notable shooting in Virginia in two weeks after three students at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville were killed on November 13. It also comes just days after five people were killed at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The City of Chesapeake quickly dispelled the rumors after the news station tweeted their breaking story. "Rumors of an active shooter at Target in Chesapeake are UNTRUE. Please help us control rumors by only sharing information from this account," the city tweeted Wednesday morning.

Dr. Rebecca Cowan, a Walden University professor and trauma counseling specialist who lives in Chesapeake, told Newsweek that the emergency call came from someone who saw a potentially homeless person walking with two sticks and thought the sticks were weapons.

After the person allegedly called for a "code red," the employees evacuated the store, and law enforcement elicited a "massive response," she said.

"My entire community is very on edge," Cowan told Newsweek. "That seems to be what happened at the Target. I think people are very worried and anxious at this point, and that created that reaction."

False reports commonly follow real shootings, such as at a school or in a public place. The reasons behind the false calls vary, such as students making calls to get out of class after news of a real shooting breaks.

Following the news that the active shooter rumor was false, 13News Now tweeted an update that people in Chesapeake were "on edge" after the Walmart tragedy.

"Chesapeake on edge after last night," 13News Now anchor Dan Kennedy tweeted. "Greenbrier Target was evacuated on reports of an armed person—but those reports are not true. Police checked the scene, talked to the suspected armed person. That person was not armed, and there were no shots fired."

Employees' emotions could be running high with the news from the Walmart tragedy and anticipation of higher crowds for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Cowan urged stores such as Target to have discussions with their employees about safety and protocols that are in place to try and prevent false alarms.

The Target in Chesapeake is only a few miles from the Walmart, and Cowan said people are "very triggered."

"We need to find a way for this to stop," Cowan said of mass shootings. "This is becoming so much for everyone. It's very traumatic, and it's causing a lot of primary trauma and secondary trauma across the United States."

Update 11/23/22, 11:11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and background.