The man who shot a Walmart employee to death in a store aisle made no attempt to leave, instead walking a couple of aisles away, setting his gun on the ground and sitting down until officers reached him.
Dakota Norwood, 21, of Chicago, an employee at the Walmart North Supercenter at 1100 5th Ave. in Hammond, Ind., was shot multiple times inside the store on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, and died of her injuries, Hammond police said.
Police later identified the suspect as Dorian Kevon Robertson, 22, of Joliet, Ill. Robertson has since been charged with murder and is being held at the Lake County Jail. Officers were called to the store, which sits just across the Indiana state line from Chicago, at 9:09 a.m.
A Conversation That Turned Physical
The two had been talking in a store aisle for a stretch before anything happened, Hammond Police Capt. Steve Kellogg said. The preliminary investigation found that the conversation became a verbal argument and then turned physical.
The man then pulled out a firearm and shot the woman multiple times, police said.
Police said Robertson and Norwood knew each other and had been in a relationship, though the exact nature and length of that relationship remains under investigation. “It does appear that they know each other,” Kellogg told CBS News. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. told WGN-TV it was a domestic situation.
The Officer Already Working Security
An off-duty Hammond police officer was working private security at the Walmart that morning. That officer reported the shooting and responded immediately to the gunfire, police said, and the department’s first notification of the shooting came from him.
The gunman never tried to flee, Kellogg said. He moved a couple of aisles away from where he fired, placed the gun on the ground, sat down and stayed there until officers got to him. The off-duty officer took him into custody.
No Shoppers in That Aisle
No customers were hurt. Investigators do not believe any shoppers were even in the aisle where the shooting happened. Another employee was in that aisle and was not injured.
The Supercenter had opened to customers at 6 a.m., about three hours before the first call to police, and police said the store was open at the time with both employees and customers inside. The store closed for the rest of the day.
Hammond police, the Hammond Fire Department and the Lake County Coroner all responded to the Supercenter. The Lake County Coroner’s Office identified Norwood on Tuesday, Nov. 3. An autopsy found she died of multiple gunshot wounds, and her death was ruled a homicide.
The Hammond Police Department said in a social media post that the shooting was believed to be an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the public, based on what officers knew at the time. The department said its investigation is ongoing and that it will release more information as it becomes available, and it offered condolences to the victim’s family, friends and coworkers.
“We’re heartbroken by what’s happened at our Hammond, IN store,” Walmart said in a statement the same day, adding that the company is working closely with authorities as the investigation continues.
From a Parking Lot to a Standoff
The Hammond killing is the latest in a string of shootings at Walmart stores across the country.
Bart Diguglielmo, 62, was shot and killed in a Walmart parking lot in North Lauderdale, Fla., on June 30 after an argument over a parking space. The woman who shot him stayed at the scene and claimed self-defense, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to file charges.
Julius Reape, 20, was fatally shot near the entrance of a midtown Walmart in Anchorage, Alaska, on Oct. 20, 2025, after a verbal exchange with a man he knew. Police detained a suspect.
Walmart employee Dwayne Eduh, 24, opened fire at the Walmart Supercenter on Salem Road in Covington, Ga., early on April 11, 2025, deputies said. He killed co-worker Khalaf Barksdale, 21, and wounded another man outside the store, then killed co-worker Akeela Clarke, 19, at a nearby home. Eduh shot himself during a standoff with deputies in Aiken County, S.C., and later died.
