The man who shot a Walmart employee inside a Hammond, Ind., store never tried to run — he carried his gun a couple of aisles away, set it on the ground and sat down to wait for police.
Dakota Norwood, 21, of Chicago, an employee at the Walmart North Supercenter at 1100 5th Ave. in Hammond, Ind., died after a man shot her multiple times inside the store on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, Hammond police said. Officers were called to the store at 9:09 a.m., and Hammond police, the Hammond Fire Department and the Lake County Coroner all converged on the Supercenter, which sits just across the Indiana state line from Chicago.
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.
Police later identified the suspect as Dorian Kevon Robertson, 22, of Joliet, Ill. Robertson faces a charge of murder and is being held at the Lake County Jail. He appeared virtually in Lake County court on Friday, Nov. 6, was ordered to remain in custody and is due back in court Friday, Nov. 13.
A Conversation That Turned Physical
The two talked in a store aisle “for a stretch” before anything happened, Hammond Police Capt. Steve Kellogg said. The preliminary investigation traced a conversation that became a verbal argument, then turned physical.
The man then pulled out a firearm and shot the woman multiple times, police said. Her injuries killed her.
Police said Robertson and Norwood knew each other and had been in a relationship. Kellogg told CBS News, “It does appear that they know each other,” and police said the exact nature and length of the relationship remains under investigation. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the shooting was a domestic situation.
He Put the Gun on the Ground
An off-duty Hammond police officer was working private security at the Walmart that morning. The officer reported the shooting and responded immediately to the gunfire, police said, and that report was the first notification the department received.
The gunman made no attempt to leave, according to Kellogg. He walked a couple of aisles away, placed the gun on the ground, sat down and stayed there until officers reached him. The same off-duty officer took him into custody.
Nobody Else in the Aisle
No customers were hurt. Investigators believe no shoppers were even in the aisle where the shooting happened, and another employee who was in that aisle was not injured.
The store had opened to customers at 6 a.m., about three hours before the first call to police, and employees and customers were inside at the time, police said. The Supercenter closed for the rest of the day.
The Hammond Police Department said in a social media post that the shooting was believed to be an isolated incident and that there was no ongoing threat to the public, based on what officers knew at the time. The department said the 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.
Walmart said in a statement the same day, “We’re heartbroken by what’s happened at our Hammond, IN store,” and added that the company is working closely with authorities as the investigation continues.
From Florida to Georgia
The Hammond killing is the latest in a string of shootings at Walmart stores across the country.
A woman shot and killed Bart Diguglielmo, 62, in a Walmart parking lot in North Lauderdale, Fla., on June 30 after an argument over a parking space. She stayed at the scene and claimed self-defense, leaving prosecutors to decide on 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. Eduh killed co-worker Khalaf Barksdale, 21, and wounded another man outside the store, deputies said. He then killed a second co-worker, Akeela Clarke, 19, at a nearby home, and shot himself during a standoff with deputies in Aiken County, S.C., and later died.