LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Police said a fourth victim died a day after a shooter opened fire at an Arkansas grocery store, wounding nine others and riddling cars with bullet holes as panicked bystanders scrambled for cover.
The latest victim died Saturday evening, Arkansas state police said in a statement, listing a total of 14 people as hit by gunfire, including 11 civilians, two law enforcement officers and the suspect.
It was the latest mass shooting with a grocery store as its backdrop. In 2022, a white supremacist killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. That came a little more than a year after 10 people were fatally shot at supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.
The shooting in Arkansas took place around 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, a city of about 3,200 people located 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of Little Rock.
Video posted on social media showed at least one person lying in the parking lot, while another captured multiple gunshots ringing out. Images from reporters on the scene showed a slew of bullet holes in the store’s window, and spent shell casings strewn throughout the parking lot. Local and state agencies could be seen responding, with at least one medical helicopter landing nearby.
The dead were identified as Shirley Taylor, 62; Callie Weems, 23; Roy Sturgis, 50; and Ellen Shrum, 81. They were all civilians, according to the statement.
The wounded range in age from 20 to 65, police said. Four were still hospitalized, including a woman who was in critical condition.
The wounded agents were identified as Fordyce Police Officer James Johnson, 31, who was released from a hospital Saturday evening; and Stuttgart Police Officer John Hudson, 24, whose injuries were said to be minor.
Police identified the suspect is Travis Eugene Posey, 44, of New Edinburg, and said he will be charged with four counts of capital murder.
“He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement,” police said in the statement. Posey was released to police custody and taken to the Ouachita County Detention Center.
Authorities have not released a motive. A media briefing to update the public about the shooting was slated for 2 p.m. Sunday.
As of Friday, a state police spokesperson did not know if Posey had an attorney, and there was no immediate response to a phone message left with the agency’s public information office Saturday night. The Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Posey was being held at the detention center, but said the office had no information about who might be representing him. An inmate record had yet to be posted online.
Roderick Rogers, a member of the city council, said he called the sheriff when employees at his restaurant nearby notified him of the shooting. When he got there, he saw people running for cover in every direction, even one running to the hospital nearby.
“People were just jumping into cars to get to safety,” Rogers said Friday.
Associated Press , 2024-06-23 17:54:27
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