Walmart manager kills six in latest US mass shooting

CHESAPEAK, United States A 31-year-old overnight manager at Walmart shot and killed six people at a store bustling with Thanksgiving holiday shoppers before turning the pistol on himself, authorities said Wednesday, in America's second mass shooting in four days.

Four other people remained hospitalized in unknown condition following the Tuesday night rampage in Chesapeake, Virginia, police chief Mark Solesky said.

The gunman is believed to have died of a "self-inflicted gunshot wound," Solesky told reporters, adding that the motive behind the country's latest outburst of gun violence was not yet known.

City authorities identified the shooter as Chesapeake resident Andre Bing, saying he was armed with one handgun and multiple magazines. Walmart confirmed in a statement that Bing was an overnight team lead, employed with the company since 2010.

An employee named Briana Tyler -- who survived the attack -- earlier described scenes of terror as a store manager entered a staff break room, and opened fire. 

"He wasn't aiming at anybody specifically," Tyler told ABC's "Good Morning America" program. "He just literally started shooting throughout the entire break room and I watched multiple people just drop down to the floor, whether they were trying to duck for cover or they were hit."

She said the gunman looked right at her and fired but missed by mere inches. "He didn't say a word, he didn't say anything at all," Tyler said.

The assault came two days before the quintessential American family holiday, which falls on Thursday, and on the heels of a weekend gun attack at an LGBTQ club in Colorado that killed five people.

It was also the second mass shooting in the state of Virginia this month: three students at the University of Virginia who played on its football team were killed November 13 by a classmate after a field trip.

President Joe Biden called the attack senseless and said "there are now even more tables across the country that will have empty seats this Thanksgiving."

'Extremely crowded' 

In the Walmart attack, emergency calls were first made just after 10:00 pm Tuesday (0300 GMT Wednesday) while the store was still open. Chesapeake is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southeast of the US capital Washington.

Officers entered the store a few minutes later, Solesky said.

The shooter and two victims were found dead in the break room, while another body was found next to the front of the store, the city said. Three people taken to hospital with gunshots wounds later died.

Terri Brown, who was in the Walmart but left just before the shooting, said the store was packed with holiday shoppers.

"It was extremely crowded," Brown told the local ABC affiliate 13NewsNow. "All of the checkouts were extremely busy. They had most registers open. There were long, long lines at the self-checkout."

In the store parking lot on Wednesday, a makeshift memorial of flowers and small white electric candles sat against a tree beneath crime scene tape. White, blue and golden balloons tied to a tree blew in the wind. 

Gun attacks in grocery stores in America have become increasingly common in recent years. A teenage gunman killed 10 people, most of them Black, at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York in May.

Last year a shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado also left 10 dead. And in a particularly gruesome attack in 2019, a young gunman killed 23 and wounded 26 as he stalked shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

An advocacy group called Guns Down America has reported that from January 1, 2020 to May 14 of this year there were 448 "gun incidents" and 137 deaths at 12 large national retailers.

So far in 2022, the Gun Violence Archive website has tracked more than 600 mass shootings in the United States -- defined as an incident with four or more people shot or killed, not including the shooter. 

Tyler, the store employee, told ABC that the manager in question had a reputation as a difficult character.

"He was the manager to look out for because there was always something going on with him, just having an issue with someone," she said. "I would've never thought he would do something like this."

The incident occurred three nights after a gunman opened fire inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and injuring at least 18.

Lawyers for the 22-year-old suspect in that attack, Anderson Lee Aldrich, said in court documents that the suspect identifies as non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns.

Aldrich on Wednesday made a brief court appearance by video, in which no charges were levied, and no pleas entered.

Agence France-Presse

From Hollywood to Detroit, pandemic-weary companies cautious on Omicron

Pandemic-weary corporations struggled to assess the impact of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Monday, with industries from Hollywood movie studios to airlines and autos awaiting more details to help determine how it might affect their operations and profits.

The World Health Organization warned on Monday the Omicron variant carries a very high global risk of infection surges. Spooked investors wiped roughly $2 trillion off global stocks on Friday, but markets regained some ground on Monday.

Countries have swiftly imposed bans on travel from southern Africa, where the variant was first uncovered. Japan and Israel went even further, announcing bans on all foreign visitors.

Some airlines said they were not heavily changing schedules, but industry sources said big carriers moved swiftly to protect their hubs by curbing passenger travel from southern Africa.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary saw no reason to cancel flights although he was worried about some countries potentially shutting air travel. Lufthansa, Germany's flagship airline, said its flights were still well booked.

US President Joe Biden met with chief executives of major retailers and other companies on Monday to discuss how to move goods to shelves as the US holiday shopping season begins in the shadow of Omicron.

Before the meeting, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon cited improvement in the supply chain, noting the retailer had seen a 26% increase in shipping containers going through U.S. ports over the past four weeks.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Monday it was too soon to tell if Omicron will have any impact on global supply chains.

The prospect of a fast-spreading variant has raised fears of a return of the sort of restrictions that shut down a swathe of industries in 2020.

In Hollywood, where production on film and television shows returned to pre-pandemic levels this summer thanks to stringent health and safety precautions, the studios were waiting to learn more about this latest mutation of the coronavirus.

"With COVID, it keeps shape shifting. It's like mercury -- we can't get our hands around it," said Dr. Neal Baer, a physician who was a longtime producer of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

"It's going to take a couple of weeks for us to know, one, how well vaccinations protect us, two, whether you need a booster and whether a booster helps or three, whether the vaccine needs to be modified to make it effective against this mutation."

Movie theater attendance has been returning in fits and starts since the summer, but a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners said variants remain a concern -- especially after the pullback in attendance that accompanied the Delta variant.

In the United States, auto plants were closed for two months last year. Even after automakers restarted operations, they have curtailed production schedules due to semiconductor chip shortages and other supply-chain constraints. Automakers said it was too soon to predict the impact of Omicron.

"This is new," Nissan Motor Co's US spokeswoman Lloryn love-Carter said. "We're monitoring of course, but we still have a lot of pretty strict COVID protocols in place."

General Motors Co, the largest US automaker, said it was watching closely and its COVID-19 safety protocols remain in place at its plants.

"We continue to strongly encourage our employees to get vaccinated given the broad availability of safe and highly efficacious vaccines," GM spokeswoman Maria Raynal said in an email. "We will continue to review and adjust our protocols as new information regarding this variant becomes available."

Toyota Motor Corp said its US management team will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Omicron variant.

"Right now we're in the 'gathering info' mode," Toyota's U.S. spokesman Scott Vazin said. "Since most of our employees are based in plants, we've never stopped COVID protocols such as social distancing, health screenings, masking up." 

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit, additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, Tim Hepher in Paris and Alex Alper in Washington; Editing by Peter Graff, Bill Berkrot and Sandra Maler)

-reuters-  

Man suspected of planning mass shooting at Walmart store arrested in Texas

A man suspected of planning a mass shooting was arrested in Texas after authorities intercepted a message that indicated he was "preparing to proceed," the Kerr County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) said in a statement on Sunday.

Coleman Thomas Blevins, 28, made a specific threat to target a local Walmart store, KCSO said in the statement posted on Facebook.

The Sheriff's Office posted an image of evidence apparently collected from Blevins' apartment that showed a rifle with multiple magazines, a flag with Nazi party symbols and the national flag of Saudi Arabia. Books and hand-written documents were also seized by investigators.

The statement did not specify what kind of message had alerted authorities, but after intercepting it KCSO confirmed, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), that Blevins had the capability to follow through with the threat.

Blevins was arrested on a warrant for a "Terroristic Threat to Create Public Fear of Serious Bodily Injury," the statement said.

Blevins is currently on active felony probation and is prohibited from possessing firearms. He is booked into the Kerr County Jail where he remains.

The FBI or other federal authorities may seek federal charges in this case, KCSO said.

-reuters-

Walmart teaming with Microsoft in bid for TikTok

SAN FRANCISCO - US retail giant Walmart said Thursday it had teamed with Microsoft in a bid to buy Chinese-owned short-form video app TikTok.

The app has been at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 6 giving Americans 45 days to stop doing business with its Chinese parent company ByteDance. 

The move effectively set a deadline for a sale of TikTok to a US company.

"We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of US TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of US government regulators," the retailer told AFP.

Walmart is likely interested in TikTok to better connect with younger shoppers who turn to the internet for lifestyle trends, according to analysts.

Younger people are much less likely to shop at Walmart, whether online or in real-world stores, according to GlobalData Retail managing director Neil Saunders.

"A social platform like TikTok would give Walmart easy access to the very audience it wants and needs to attract," Saunders said.

Having access to the social media sensation could help Walmart's marketing campaigns while tapping into "a rich seam of data" or product development and more, according to Saunders.

Walmart teaming with US technology colossus Microsoft was "the final piece of the puzzle that ultimately cements Microsoft successfully acquiring TikTok's US operations for likely $35 billion to $40 billion," according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

'HIGH-STAKES POKER'

"While deal negotiations will be complex with a number of technology and data privacy issues that need to be worked out before an agreement is inked, we believe ByteDance is playing a game of high stakes poker with Microsoft looking like the only true white knight around," Ives said in a note to investors.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said Wednesday he had quit the company as tensions soar between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese-owned video platform.

Mayer's departure was taken by some in the market as a sign that a deal to sell TikTok is imminent. Oracle is also said to be in the bidding

Mayer's resignation came just days after TikTok filed a lawsuit challenging a crackdown by the US government over claims the wildly popular social media app can be used to spy on Americans.

TikTok, which has been downloaded 175 million times in the US and more than a billion times around the world, argued in the suit that Trump's order was a misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The platform -- on which users share often playful short-form videos -- is not "an unusual and extraordinary threat," it said.

The platform's kaleidoscopic feeds of clips feature everything from dance routines and hair-dye tutorials to jokes about daily life and politics. 

The company holds firm that it has never provided any US user data to the Chinese government, and Beijing has blasted Trump's crackdown as political.

Agence France-Presse

Walmart withdraws Christmas cocaine sweater

WASHINGTON - It wasn't the type of white powder that makes Christmas complete -- American retail giant Walmart has withdrawn a festive sweater that celebrates cocaine.

The sweater depicts Santa Claus with straw in hand, and three white lines laid out on a table before him.

"Let it snow" is written underneath, in a slang reference to cocaine.

The description of the product, marketed by a third-party vendor on Walmart's Canadian site, was explicit.

"The best snow comes straight from South America," it said. "Santa really likes to savor the moment when he gets his hands on some quality, grade-A, Colombian snow."

A Walmart spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday that the sweaters were withdrawn from the site over the weekend, and have never been sold in the chain's stores.

She was unable to say how long the sweaters were offered for sale.

The sweaters "do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website," the company said in a statement, apologizing "for any unintended offence this may have caused."

leo/jm/bgs

Agence France-Presse

Top US retailers absorb tariff pressure ahead of holiday shopping season

WASHINGTON - Prices for electronics sold online at top US retailers were up slightly heading into the critical US shopping season, but sites including Walmart Inc and Amazon.com Inc have held prices steady for many other popular holiday products despite the pressure from tariffs on Chinese imports.

The analysis is based on a pricing study conducted for Reuters by retail analytics firm Profitero, which examined online prices from seven large retailers for 21,000 products.

The firm compared product prices during October and November last year to those this year in key holiday categories including appliances, electronics, toys and video games across Walmart, Walmart-owned Jet.com, Amazon, Target Corp, Best Buy, GameStop and Staples.

On average, the prices the retailers charged for electronics were 2.3 percent higher than the year-ago period, while across all the categories, prices were 0.9 percent higher, said Keith Anderson, senior vice president for strategy and insights at Profitero.

That’s lower than the average rate of inflation during the same period, which stood at 2.4 percent in 2018 and about 1.8 percent in 2019 so far.

In categories such as toys, prices dipped 0.2 percent and video games fell 2 percent, according to Profitero, which has not looked at year-over-year changes in pricing across the sampling of retailers and categories in the past.

Walmart and Target did not comment on the study but pointed Reuters to past comments from executives about how they have managed tariffs by working with vendors and diversifying their supply chain. Amazon did not immediately comment on the study. Best Buy declined comment and GameStop did not respond to requests for comment. Staples asked to see the study but did not comment.

America’s trade war with China threatens to push up product prices, which could hurt consumer spending this holiday season, a period which makes up nearly 40 percent of annual revenue for many retailers. The two countries are currently struggling to strike a preliminary trade deal.

About $539 billion worth of goods came into the United States from China in 2018, making the country the largest supplier of imported goods, the US Trade Representative said. US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs and threatened more as leverage in trade negotiations with Beijing.

But while tariffs have driven up costs of goods for many retailers, at least the large firms have so far refrained from passing that cost pressure to shoppers, according to interviews with researchers, consultants and retail companies.

EBIT margins for all retailers excluding Walmart have been declining since October 2018 and at 6.7 percent are at their lowest since 2010, according to an analysis by Oxford Economics.

CONSUMERS NOT SEEING FULL EFFECTS
“Right now, nobody wants to be grinchy and steal Christmas so they are passing on as little as possible,” said Jeff Unze, a president at BorderX Lab - an e-commerce platform, which connects American retailers with Chinese consumers, and tracks pricing changes in both markets.

On Sept. 1, the US imposed a 15 percent tariff on many consumer goods from China that increased the cost of goods sold for most retailers. For example, Dollar Tree said tariffs will increase its cost of goods sold by about $19 million in the fourth quarter if tariffs are fully implemented.

In the Profitero analysis, Walmart’s products were only 0.4 percent more expensive compared to a year ago on a sample of over 6,000 popular holiday products. Amazon was 0.6 percent pricier on 9,200 products. A sampling of 1,200 items sold online by Target were 0.9 percent less expensive than during the year earlier period.

By contrast, chains such as Staples were over 4.7 percent more expensive, and the goods sold by Best Buy were priced at 1.1 percent more.

The study did not include popular categories such as apparel and accessories, which have largely not been subject to the Trump administration’s latest tariffs but are likely to face a 15 percent tariff in a new round scheduled for Dec. 15. 

Consumer price index data, through October, shows that televisions, phones, computer accessories, video and audio products accounted for four of the top five largest year-over-year price declines by category.

The data is based on sampling by the Bureau of Labor Statistics only through October, however. In contrast, Profitero looked only at online pricing at seven retailers during October and November.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Investors back global online market-place for ethical, green farmers

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A former investment banker has raised more than $10 million to expand a startup that helps developing-nation farmers who are using green and ethical methods to earn more by linking them directly with food buyers around the world.

After a decade of investing in commodity markets at Deutsche Bank and Korea Investment Corporation, Hoshik Shin set up an online marketplace Tridge in 2015 to build a network of sustainable producers and link them to buyers at home and abroad.

Food sold on Tridge includes peppermint leaves from Egypt, peanuts farmed in Nigeria and mangoes grown in India and Thailand.

"At the moment, suppliers in emerging countries are so restricted to just meeting local buyers," said the South Korean entrepreneur, whose venture secured $10.5 million this month from investors to bolster the business.

"Through our platform, they can meet foreign buyers more easily ... prices will improve and that gives bigger benefits to both farmers and their employees," the 42-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Tridge users include the world's largest retailer Walmart Inc and French supermarket chain Carrefour, said Shin.

Globally, consumers and retailers are demanding more information about the goods they source, buy and eat, to make sure their production and transportation do not damage the environment or use illegal and unethical business practices.

In response, manufacturers of household brands, restaurants and other businesses are seeking to attract more customers by offering products guaranteed free of deforestation or slave labor, for example.

Earlier this year, conservation group WWF launched a website that harnesses blockchain technology allowing users to scan a QR code on a product or menu revealing its full history and supply chain.

Seoul-based Tridge makes use of artificial intelligence, data and algorithms, and has about 80 employees in 40 countries verifying that suppliers are trustworthy and ethical.

Food sellers on the platform, who are based in about 150 countries, can cut out middlemen and traders along the supply chain, who often take a cut and push up prices.

"The buyers get cheaper sourcing, and the supplier can get a better selling price," said Shin.

Once linked, producers and their customers - which include large and small retailers, importers, manufacturers and caterers - can conduct business away from the website, with suppliers paying Tridge for the connection.

The online platform, whose main rival is China's Alibaba Group, has more than 1,000 food products, 60,000 suppliers and 40,000 buyers.

Last year, purchase requests totaled about $2 billion, Shin said, with a target of $10 billion for 2020.

"We figured that food and agriculture is the most fragmented industry," he said, noting the system can match sellers to buyers' specifications "within one second".

David Dawe, a senior economist at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Bangkok, said ethical and sustainable food supply chains often incur extra costs, making it hard for them to be competitive.

"Use of new digital technologies can counteract those additional costs, helping such businesses to survive and grow their market share," he added. (Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; Editing by Megan Rowling. Thomson Reuters Foundation)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Walmart to limit ammunition sales after mass shooting in Texas store

NEW YORK - Walmart will halt sales of ammunition for handguns and some military-style rifles, the company announced Tuesday, calling the status quo on firearms in the United States "unacceptable."

Walmart also said it would direct consumers not to carry firearms into its stores, a practice that is legal in "open carry" states but which has sparked safety scares in recent weeks.

The moves, which were praised by gun control advocates and ridiculed by gun rights supporters, came a month after a deadly shooting at an El Paso, Texas store claimed 22 lives, a calamity that has been followed by subsequent attacks, including another shooting over the weekend in West Texas that left seven dead.

Chief Executive Doug McMillon called on Congress and the White House to enact "common sense" measures, including stronger background checks for gun purchases, while signaling the retail giant still plans to sell sporting rifles.

"As we've seen before, these horrific events occur and then the spotlight fades. We should not allow that to happen," McMillon said in a statement.

"Congress and the administration should act."

The actions stop well short of the outright ban on gun sales that some gun control advocates called for but are still significant given Walmart's size and prominence in many communities in the United States and its influence in corporate America. 

Later Tuesday, Kroger, the biggest US supermarket chain, called for strengthened background checks and announced it was "respectfully asking that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores, other than authorized law enforcement officers."

BOYCOTT? 

The world's biggest retailer, Arkansas-based Walmart has more than 4,700 stores across America, many in conservative regions where political opposition to gun control is strong. 

The hashtag #boycottwalmart was trending Tuesday afternoon on Twitter and the move drew a strident response from the National Rifle Association.

"It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites," the NRA said. "Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America's fundamental freedoms."

On the other side, Everytown for Gun Safety praised Walmart for a "significant step forward."

Several Democratic presidential candidates also praised Walmart, while calling for more action, drawing further distinction from US President Donald Trump who has backed off efforts to tighten background checks.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, who previously represented El Paso in Congress, called Walmart's move a "step in the right direction," adding, "we can't rely on corporations to stop gun violence. We need universal background checks, we need red flag laws, and we need to buy back every single assault weapon."

Walmart expects the changes to lower its market share for ammunition from around 20 percent to a range of 6 to 9 percent.

The company will also no longer sell ammunition for short-barrel rifles, which can be used for hunting but also in military-style weapons.

The company will still sell long-barrel deer rifles and shotguns and much of the ammunition they use, leaving its stores "even more focused on the needs of hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts," McMillon said.

NO MORE 'OPEN CARRY' 

Walmart also unveiled new policies restricting firearms in stores, citing a number of incidents in which shoppers have fled stores after members of the public brandished such weapons in "open carry" states. 

In one well-publicized incident last month just days after the El Paso shooting, a man in Missouri was arrested after entering a Walmart wearing body armor and carrying a loaded military-style rifle.

"We believe the opportunity for someone to misinterpret a situation, even in open carry states, could lead to tragic results," McMillon said. "We hope that everyone will understand the circumstances that led to this new policy and will respect the concerns of their fellow shoppers and our associates."

The moves announced Tuesday followed earlier actions by Walmart to restrict access to some weapons, including a decision in 1993 to halt handgun sales in all states but Alaska and in 2015 to end sales of semiautomatic weapons of the sort used in mass shootings. 

On Tuesday, Walmart said it was also ending sales of handguns in Alaska.

McMillon noted he is a gun owner himself, adding "we understand that heritage, our deeply rooted place in America and our influence as the world's largest retailer. And we understand the responsibility that comes with it."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Walmart lifts profit forecast on strong US sales, limited tariff hit

NEW YORK - Walmart lifted its full-year profit forecast Thursday after better-than-expected results on solid US consumer spending, reflecting confidence that trade frictions will not significantly dent earnings.

Amid rising fears of a US recession, the world's biggest retailer said the American consumer as in "relatively good shape," as it posted another quarter of growth in US comparable sales, a closely-watched benchmark, jolting shares higher.

Walmart said full-year earnings per share will range from a slight decrease to a slight increase over last year, an improvement on the original outlook that called for a decline.

"Customers are responding to the improvements we're making, the productivity loop is working, and we're gaining market share," said Chief Executive Doug McMillon.

Net income was $3.6 billion, up from an $861 million loss in the year-ago period, when one-time costs related to its Brazil business dented results.

Revenues rose 1.8 percent to $130.4 billion.

The results caught President Donald Trump's eye, and he tweeted that the retail chain is a "great indicator to how the US is doing."

Walmart officials reiterated their firm support for free trade, after warning in June that proposed tariffs on a broad swathe of consumer goods imported from China are "likely to hit low-income American families the hardest."

BATTLING AMAZON

Walmart has been dueling with Amazon over faster home-delivery programs and in June unveiled a new venture to stock goods in customers' refrigerators in three American cities.

McMillon said Walmart had boosted its competitive position in several categories, including food, health and wellness and toys, attributing the gains to heavy investments in e-commerce and smartphone applications that have strengthened ties to American households.

Analysts view the investments as necessary, but they have hit the company's profit margins in the near term.

The retail giant has avoided specifics on how it is responding to tariffs on individual items.

The company's projections incorporate the latest US tariff plans, including Tuesday's announcement that Trump is delaying imposition of new duties on more than half the products targeted for the next round, to avoid hitting consumers during the holiday shopping season.

That reprieve spared Chinese-made cellphones and many toys, but still hit many consumer categories including apparel and televisions.

The fourth round of tariffs, set to begin September 1, "affects a larger part of our assortment than the prior tariffs," Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said in a statement.

He added that the retailer "has been able to thoughtfully manage pricing and margins with both our customers and shareholders in mind."

MITIGATING TARIFF HIT

Biggs said the company works with suppliers and tweaks its products in response to tariffs.

"You look at other places to source -- some of that can be done, some of it can't," Biggs told reporters on a conference call.

Analyst Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail said the results show "Walmart will be a retail winner, even if external factors start to deteriorate."

But Saunders cautioned that the retail giant still needs to boost the profitability of its e-commerce business, adding that results should improve as customers become more familiar with the offerings and boost their purchases.

Gun control advocates have called on the chain to end firearms sales after a gunman who posted an anti-Hispanic manifesto killed 22 people in an attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

McMillon defended the company's decision to keep selling some guns as a "common sense" approach, noting that the chain had halted sales of military-style weapons in 2015 and raised the age limit to purchase a firearm to 21 in 2018 after an attack on a Florida school.

Walmart's share price jumped rose 6.1 percent to $112.69.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US prosecutors charge Texas shooting suspect with murder, seek death penalty

EL PASO, Texas - A single capital murder charge was filed on Sunday against the man accused of killing 20 people and wounding more than two dozen others at a Walmart store in El Paso, a mass shooting authorities are viewing as a case of domestic terrorism.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Saturday's rampage in the heavily Hispanic city appeared to be a hate crime. Police cited an anti-immigrant screed posted online shortly before the shooting, which they attributed to the suspect, Patrick Crusius, as evidence that the bloodshed was racially motivated.

It was the second of three separate public shooting sprees carried out in the United States in the span of a week, an unusually dense cluster of massacres that prompted fresh alarm in a country accustomed to reports of young men shooting down strangers.

The County of El Paso's state court website lists a single charge of capital murder against Crusius, a 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas.

His grandparents, with whom Crusius had recently been living, said they were devastated by the attack.

"He lived with us in our house in Allen, Texas, while he attended Collin College," the statement said, read aloud by a family friend to reporters outside the home on Sunday. "He moved out of our house six weeks ago, and has spent a few nights here while we were out of town."

The single charge is likely a legal place holder to keep Crusius in custody until further charges can be filed against him for each of the dead and the wounded.

It was unclear if Crusius has a lawyer or when a bond hearing or other court appearances will occur.

A state prosecutor said prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Crusius if he is found guilty.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Sunday the attack "underscores the continued threat posed by domestic violent extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes."

The agency said it remains concerned that more US-based extremists could become inspired by these and previous high-profile attacks to engage in similar acts of violence.

The US attorney for the western district of Texas, John Bash, said federal authorities were treating the El Paso massacre as a case of domestic terrorism.

"And we're going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is to deliver swift and certain justice," he told a news conference on Sunday. He said the attack appeared "to be designed to intimidate a civilian population, to say the least."

FBI Director Christopher Wray told a congressional panel on July 23 that the bureau has recorded about 100 arrests of domestic terrorism suspects in the preceding nine months and that most investigations of that kind involve some form of white supremacy.

BACK-TO-BACK SHOOTINGS

The Texas rampage was followed just 13 hours later by another mass shooting, and came a week after a man shot dead three people at a California garlic festival before he was killed by police.

In Dayton, Ohio a gunman in body armor and a mask killed nine people in less than a minute and wounded 27 others in the city's downtown historic district before he was shot dead by police.

Democratic candidates for next year's presidential election called on Sunday for stricter gun laws and accused President Donald Trump of stoking racial tensions.

Trump has frequently derided many asylum seekers and other immigrants coming across the US southern border as liars and criminals. At a political rally he held in May, after asking the crowd what could be done about immigrants coming in illegally, Trump smiled and joked after someone in the crowd yelled back: "Shoot them!"

Responding to the shootings, Trump called on lawmakers to pass new background checks laws for buying guns, and suggested any such legislation might also include greater restrictions on immigration.

"We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!" he wrote on Twitter on Monday morning ahead of planned remarks on the subject. On Sunday, he attributed the shootings to what he called the "mental illness" of the killers.

SIGNS OF HATE

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said the suspect was cooperating with investigators.

"He basically didn't hold anything back," Allen said at Sunday's news conference, but declined to elaborate.

Police said the suspect opened fire with a rifle on shoppers, many of them bargain-hunting for back-to-school supplies, then surrendered to officers who confronted him outside the store.

A police spokesman said on Sunday that the names of the victims would be released only when relatives had been informed, and he said he had no estimate for how long that would take.

Crusius comes from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb some 650 miles (1,046 km) east of El Paso, which lies along the Rio Grande across the US-Mexico border from Ciudad Juarez.

A four-page statement posted on 8chan, an online message board often used by extremists, and believed to have been written by the suspect, called the Walmart attack "a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas."

It also expressed for support for the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March.

El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, together with the neighboring city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, form a metropolitan border area of some 2.5 million residents constituting the largest bilingual, bi-national population in North America.

The rampage in El Paso on Saturday was the eighth most deadly mass shooting in recent years in the United States.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cloudflare terminates 8chan as customer on 'hate-filled' content - CEO

U.S. cyber security firm Cloudflare on Monday said the company will terminate online message board 8chan as its customer after a shooter used the messaging forum just before killing 20 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas on Saturday.

The shooter is believed to have posted a four-page statement on 8chan, and called the Walmart attack "a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas".

The suspect was officially identified as a 21-year-old white male from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb some 650 miles (1,046 km) east of El Paso, which lies along the Rio Grande, across the U.S.-Mexico border from Ciudad Juarez. Citing law enforcement officials, multiple news media reports named the suspect as Patrick Crusius.

The suspect's post on 8chan expressed support for the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March.

"We just sent a notice that we are terminating 8chan as a customer effective at midnight tonight Pacific Time," Cloudflare Chief Executive Officer Matthew Prince said in a blog post.

"Based on evidence we've seen, it appears that he (gunman)posted a screed to the site immediately before beginning his terrifying attack on the El Paso Walmart killing 20 people," Prince said.

The CEO's blog added that while 8chan did not violate law by not moderating the "hate-filled" content posted by its users, it has "created an environment that revels in violating its spirit".

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Walmart to keep selling guns despite recent shootings at its stores

NEW YORK - Despite 2 deadly shootings at its stores in less than a week, American retail giant Walmart has no plans to stop selling guns and ammunition, a spokesman said Sunday.

A man opened fire with an assault rifle at a Walmart in Texas on Saturday, killing 20 people, just 4 days after a disgruntled employee shot dead 2 coworkers and wounded a responding police officer at one of the massive chain's stores in Mississippi.

"We are focused on supporting our associates, our customers and the entire El Paso community," spokesman Randy Hargrove said.

Following the El Paso shooting, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon posted a note on Instagram saying he "can't believe" it was the second such in a week.

"My heart aches for the community in El Paso, especially the associates and customers at store 2201 and the families of the victims," he wrote.

"I'm praying for them and I hope you will join me."

Walmart founder Sam Walton loved guns -- so much so that the American gun manufacturer Remington named a hunting rifle model after him. But the retail giant maintains that its target audience is sport shooters and hunters.

Walmart has made gun policy changes over the years, such as in 1993, when it stopped selling handguns.

The company stopped selling semi-automatic rifles in 2015, and after the Parkland, Florida shooting in February 2018 -- which saw 17 people killed at a high school -- Walmart raised the minimum age to buy guns and ammunition in its stores to 21.

Additionally, "Walmart goes beyond federal law requiring all customers to pass a background check before purchasing any firearm," said Hargrove.

He also noted that all new Walmart employees are required to complete an active shooter training program, which they then must pass on a computer 4 times a year.

But since it is the largest retail chain in the United States, Walmart continues to attract criticism for its enduring stock of firearms.

When the company tweeted it was "in shock" after the tragedy in El Paso, many Twitter users replied: "Stop selling guns."

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Gunman kills 20 at Texas Walmart store in latest US mass shooting

EL PASO, Texas --A gunman armed with an assault rifle killed 20 people Saturday when he opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store in the latest mass shooting in the United States.

As residents of the southern border town of El Paso in Texas tried to absorb the full horror of what is being treated as a potential "hate crime," fresh calls rang out to end the nationwide "epidemic" of gun violence.

It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend. 

One suspect was taken into custody while authorities were studying an extremist manifesto purportedly written by the gunman.

Footage shot on camera phones appeared to show multiple bodies lying on the ground in the store's parking lot while El Paso authorities made a desperate appeal for blood donations. 

Other footage showed terrified shoppers running out of the store as gunfire echoed.

Two to 82 years

"Twenty innocent people from El Paso have lost their lives," Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference.

"We as a state unite in support of these victims and their family members... We pray that God can be with those who have been harmed in any way and bind up their wounds."

Police chief Greg Allen confirmed that in addition to the 20 confirmed fatalities, there were 26 wounded.

Various news reports said the ages of victims being treated at hospitals ranged from two to 82 years.

Police said that Walmart was "at capacity" at the time of the shooting, with 1,000 to 3,000 customers inside.

After officials initially said three people had been detained, police confirmed that a 21-year-old from Allen, Texas, was the only person in custody.

"Right now we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree, it has a nexus to potential hate crime," Allen said.

US media named the suspect as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, who is white.

The "manifesto" purportedly written by Crusius that was circulated online includes passages railing against the "Hispanic invasion" of Texas and the author makes clear that he expected to be killed during his attack.

Witnesses said the gunman appeared to be shooting at random when he opened fire around 10:30 a.m.

One woman, who gave her name as Vanessa, said she had just pulled into the Walmart parking lot when the shooting began.

"You could hear the pops, one right after another and at that point as I was turning, I saw a lady, seemed she was coming out of Walmart, headed to her car. She had her groceries in her cart and I saw her just fall," she told Fox News.

The witness said the gunman wore black t-shirt, combat trousers and was wearing ear muffs.

"He was just shooting randomly. It wasn't to any particular person. It was any that would cross paths."

Another shopper described how he managed to avoid being hit by hiding along with his mother between two vending machines just outside the store.

"That's where the individual tried to shoot at me, which he missed cause I kind of ducked down," Robert Curado told the El Paso Times.

'How you doing, brother' 

Video captured by a witness in the parking lot in the immediate aftermath of the shooting showed three people lying motionless on the ground.

One had fallen next to a truck, while two were on the sidewalk outside the store entrance. " Ambulance! Help!" people cried as they rushed to the victims.

"How you doing, brother, how you doing," one man was heard saying on the recording.

A still captured from CCTV showed the gunman carrying what appeared to be an AK-47.

President Donald Trump, who is spending the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey, condemned the "terrible" shooting after being briefed by Attorney General Bill Barr and Abbott.

It has been a particularly bad week for gun violence in the United States.

Two people died and a police officer was wounded Tuesday at a Walmart in Mississippi.

Last Sunday a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a food festival in northern California, killing three, including two children.

Beto O'Rourke, a former US congressman for El Paso who is now running for president, cut off his campaigning in the wake of the shooting.

"I'm incredibly saddened and it's very hard to think about this. But I tell you El Paso is the strongest place in the world, this community is going to come together," he told supporters.

Elizabeth Warren, a senator who is among the frontrunners for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, said "far too many communities have suffered through tragedies like this already.

"We must act now to end our country's gun violence epidemic," she said.

Another presidential hopeful Cory Booker said the US had "to end this national nightmare" and "find the moral courage to take action to end this carnage."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Walmart speeds up delivery in race with Amazon

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Retail colossus Walmart on Tuesday began offering free next-day deliveries of online purchases, aiming to counter rival Amazon in the race to get orders to consumer doorsteps.

One-day delivery option became available for an array of merchandise for sale at Walmart.com to customers in Phoenix and Las Vegas, and will extend to Southern California in the next few days, according to e-commerce chief Marc Lore.

The move ramps up Walmart's efforts to keep pace in electronic commerce with Amazon, which offers speedy deliveries to its Prime subscription members.

Walmart planned to roll the feature out gradually, making it available to about 75 percent of the people in the US this year. Unlike Amazon, Walmart won't require a membership fee.

"Contrary to what you might think, it will cost us less -- not more -- to deliver orders the next day," Lore said in an online post.

"That's because eligible items come from a single fulfillment center located closest to the customer."

Such orders are consolidated in boxes and travel short distances by ground, making them less costly than delivering items from multiple locations, according to Lore.

Walmart said eligible items will include some 200,000 of the items most frequently purchased, ranging from diapers and laundry detergent to toys and electronics, and will be shipped free on orders of $35 or more.

A free two-day shipping benefit offered to Amazon Prime subscribers is evolving into a one-day shipping perk that the company expects to boost shopping and membership, executives at the e-commerce titan said on an earnings call last month.

Amazon figured to spend $800 million this quarter on shortening delivery times to a single day for Prime buyers, with shoppers in North America expected to be the first to benefit.

Amazon Prime subscriptions cost $119 annually and include benefits such as streaming television and music.

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India's richest man to battle Amazon, Walmart in e-commerce

MUMBAI - Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani announced details of a new online shopping platform Friday that will see his oil-to-telecoms conglomerate take on Amazon and Walmart in India's burgeoning e-commerce market.

Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, said the company's telecoms and consumer businesses planned to roll out the venture in the western state of Gujarat before expanding across India.

"Jio and Reliance Retail will launch a unique new commerce platform to empower and enrich our 12 lakh (1.2 million) small retailers and shopkeepers in Gujarat," Ambani told a summit attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ambani, 61, has been drip-feeding his e-commerce plans for India over the past few months in announcements that are no doubt being keenly watched by US giants Amazon and Walmart.

Reliance shook up India's telecoms market in September 2016 when it launched its 4G Jio network with free voice calls for life and vastly cheaper data.

The launch sent the profits of other mobile players spiraling downwards and sparked consolidation across the industry as rivals scrambled to match Reliance's deep pockets.

Amazon and leading Indian e-tailer Flipkart, which was bought by Walmart for $16 billion last year, have been expanding aggressively to gain a bigger slice of India's growing online customers.

They have incurred huge losses along the way, however, and analysts say that Reliance's entry into the e-commerce sphere will make their jobs even harder.

India's e-commerce sales are expected to triple between now and 2022, when they are likely to pass the $100 billion mark, according to recent research by industry body NASSCOM and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The rise is being fuelled by greater smartphone penetration, in part thanks to Jio, and a rising middle class with more disposable income.

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Walmart's purchase of Mexico food delivery app set to spur e-commerce

MEXICO CITY - Walmart Inc will acquire Latin American food delivery service Cornershop for $225 million, it said on Thursday, in a move to ramp up its online grocery business in Mexico and Chile.

The deal mirrors Walmart's growing investments and tie-ups in online delivery services across the globe, as it aims to compete with Amazon.com Inc, the world's largest online retailer.

Shares of the retail company's Mexico division, known as Walmex, jumped more than 3 percent on the news, closing at their highest level since late July.

Walmart's acquisition of 3-year-old Cornershop, which offers its service through a mobile app and was founded in San Francisco, will help it quicken deliveries for its Walmart, Superama and Sam's Club stores in Mexico, analysts said.

"We believe the transaction is positive and will result in greater efficiencies and higher growth in online sales," Signum Research said in a report.

Walmex said it would absorb Cornershop's Mexico operations.

Walmart aims to deliver food to more than 40 percent of US households by year's end using delivery companies like Uber Technologies Inc. In Canada, the company will team up with startup Instacart for on-demand grocery deliveries.

In Mexico, traditional retailers are increasing investments in logistics, technology and product offerings to meet the growing demand for online shopping, including in the food and drink sector. Just 3 percent of all retail sales in Mexico are online, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

Amazon.com Inc, which bought Whole Foods Market last year, began selling nonperishable groceries online in Mexico in late August.

Walmart said it expects the Cornershop deal to close by year's end, adding that the app would remain an "open platform" serving various grocery and specialty food stores.

Mexican grocery chains Chedraui and La Comer as well as US-based retailer Costco Wholesale Corp, which all offer deliveries via the app, declined to comment.

Judith McKenna, chief executive of Walmart International, said in a statement that the deal was expected to provide a learning experience for the company's other markets.

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Walmart goes upscale with personal shopper service

NEW YORK - Walmart on Thursday unveiled a new concierge shopping service enabling customers to get quick deliveries and advice from a personal assistant, going upscale in the retail giant's battle with Amazon.

The new $50 per month service called Jetblack is launching in New York, offering "curated shopping recommendations" using both artificial intelligence and professional assistants.

The new subscription service ramps up competition with Amazon, which gives customers a variety of benefits and delivery options through its Prime subscription membership.

The new Walmart service comes from its recently acquired Jet.com online platform and its technology incubator known as Store No. 8.

Jetblack will let customer text requests for items such as birthday gifts. 

Operating in the New York boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, it offers same-day and next-day deliveries from Walmart, Jet.com and its retail partners, which are expected to include local boutiques and luxury retailers.

It will be led by Jenny Fleiss, co-founder of the retail fashion rental service Rent the Runway, who joined Walmart last year.

The website offered few details, offering customers an opportunity to join a waiting list.

"We are thrilled to introduce Jetblack to the world today," said Fleiss in a statement.

"Consumers are looking for more efficient ways to shop for themselves and their families without having to compromise on product quality. With Jetblack, we have created an entirely new concept that enables consumers to get exactly what they need through the convenience of text messaging and the freedom of a nearly unlimited product catalogue."

Jet.com founder Marc Lore said the new service using "conversational" commerce "will have a profound impact on how customers may shop five years from now."

Walmart and other retailers have been scrambling in the face of Amazon's push into various sectors including groceries, with more than 100 million Prime subscribers.

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Walmart buys 77 pct stake in India's Flipkart for $16-B

BANGALORE - US retail behemoth Walmart said Wednesday it will buy a 77 percent stake in Indian online sales giant Flipkart for $16 billion in the world's biggest e-commerce deal.

The blockbuster takeover threatens a major blow to rival Amazon's ambitions in India. Flipkart and Amazon have been going head-to-head in a costly battle for domination of one of the fastest growing online retail markets since 2013.

The deal, announced in a joint statement, values Flipkart, India's largest e-tailer on the basis of sales, at just over $20 billion.

"India is one of the most attractive retail markets in the world, given its size and growth rate, and our investment is an opportunity to partner with the company that is leading transformation of e-commerce in the market," Walmart president Doug McMillon said.

The announcement ended months of speculation that Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, was preparing to take over Flipkart. Both had repeatedly declined to comment on the talks.

Walmart said it would pump $2 billion into Flipkart, giving the Indian e-tailer a bigger war chest to fight off a huge challenge from Amazon, which is rapidly expanding its reach.

Binny Bansal, Flipkart's co-founder and group chief executive officer, said the deal "is of immense importance for India and will help fuel our ambition to deepen our connection with buyers and sellers and to create the next wave of retail in India".

Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Japan's SoftBank, had earlier confirmed to reporters in Tokyo that the deal had been agreed.

He said SoftBank's $2.5 billion stake in the company would be worth $4 billion with the acquisition.

Amazon has expanded aggressively since it entered the Indian market in 2013.

Boss Jeff Bezos has committed more than $5 billion to grabbing a big slice of India's e-commerce pie after failing to make inroads in China.

E-commerce sales in India hit $21 billion last year according to market research company Forrester, and are expected to soar as its population of 1.25 billion people make greater use of internet access.

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who are not related.

Like Amazon, it started as an online bookstore. Flipkart now sells everything from mobile phones, televisions and juicers to running shoes, sofas and beauty products.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

California woman sues Walmart for 'segregated' black products

LOS ANGELES, United States - A Californian woman sued supermarket chain Walmart on Friday, accusing the company of implementing extra security measures on products marketed toward black people.

Essie Grundy, 43, says all beauty products marketed for black people are placed in a locked glass case, while cosmetics targeting other ethnicities are freely available at the Walmart near her Perris home, about an hour southeast of Los Angeles.

When she asked a shop employee why the products were under lock and key, Grundy was told it "was a directive from corporate headquarters," longtime women's rights attorney Gloria Allred told reporters.

The employee also told Grundy "she would need to be escorted to the cash register with the product so she could purchase it," Allred added.

When Grundy raised the issue with a store manager, she says she did not receive a clear response, and no action was taken.

Grundy says she also visited two other Walmarts close to her home, and in one cosmetics marketed for African Americans were freely available, but monitored with security surveillance, unlike other products.

"As a result of this discriminatory business practice and policy, we filed a lawsuit this morning against Walmart," Allred said, without specifying the damages being sought.

"It perpetuates a racial stereotytpe that African Americans are thieves."

The lawsuit demands an immediate stop to the practice -- noting the humiliation and psychological trauma Grundy was made to feel.

Grundy, a 43-year-old mother who owns an online clothing business, returned to the shop after the initial incident and filmed the beauty department.

The video was played during the press conference -- showing men's and women's shampoos, body creams and combs of little retail value among other products with labels featuring black models, all arranged in a locked glass case.

"We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind at Walmart. We serve more than 140 million customers weekly, crossing all demographics," the retail giant told AFP in a statement.

"Some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products are subject to additional security," which Walmart said individual stores determined "using data."

The issue of Walmart securing beauty products marketed toward black people has already been a topic of controversy in the US -- most notably in Virginia, where the practice was denounced by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

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At least two dead in shooting inside suburban Denver Walmart

THORNTON, Colorado - At least two people were killed and one wounded in a shooting inside a Walmart store in suburban Denver on Wednesday, police said.

Police in Thornton, Colorado, did not immediately release any information about the circumstances of the shooting or who was responsible for the gunfire.

In a Twitter post about 90 minutes after the shooting, police said investigators had confirmed that two men were dead and a woman was taken to a local hospital, but no further details were given.

The situation appeared potentially ominous from authorities' initial reports.

"We've got multiple parties down, we're still trying to ascertain what their conditions are," Officer Victor Avila of the Thornton Police Department told Reuters by telephone not long after police arrived on the scene.

About an hour after the initial alert, police said on Twitter that the threat of gunfire had ended at the store, which was surrounded by police and fire crews.

"At this time this is NOT an active shooter. Active crime scene. We will update as info becomes available," the police department said in that tweet. Confirmation of the two fatalities came about 20 minutes later.

Thornton is city of about 120,000 people roughly 10 miles (16 km) northeast of downtown Denver.

Avila said police were called to the store at about 6:30 p.m. Mountain time (8:30 p.m. ET) and that the gunshots had ceased by the time the first officers arrived at the scene.

A Walmart customer, Aaron Stephens, 44, of Thorton, told Reuters he was inside paying for groceries at a self-checkout stand when he heard gunshots and the sound of ricocheting bullets.

"The employees started screaming and the customers started screaming" as people began to flee the store, he recounted. "I ran out, too, because I didn't want to get shot."

Stephens said he did not see where the shooting had come from and did not see anyone struck by bullets.

Local NBC television affiliate 9NEWS reported that a woman whose son was in the Walmart had told her that he had heard about 30 gunshots and was still inside.

A video posted on Twitter showed the Walmart, which is situated in a large complex of big-box stores and other retail outlets adjacent to U.S. Interstate 25, apparently empty except for police officers with guns drawn.

source: news.abs-cbn.com