Collierville Kroger shooting: Gunman at Tennessee grocery store told to quit work morning of incident, police say

by



[ad_1]

The shooter, identified by police as 29-year-old British Thang, moved to Collierville in the summer of 2020 and was a third-party vendor working inside Kroger, according to the update.

Collierville Police are processing electronic evidence, as well as crime scene vehicles, and are interviewing other potential witnesses in the case, according to the update.

“With active police investigations, many details of the case cannot be shared until the investigation is completed,” the statement added.

When the shooting began Thursday, 44 employees were working in the store, Police Chief Dale Lane said. In the end, at least one person, client Olivia King, was killed in the chaos, Kroger said.

“Our family is devastated by this senseless act of violence,” King’s family said in an earlier written statement to CNN affiliate WHBQ. They asked for prayers “for all the families and friends affected by today’s events, as well as for the mercy of God to the shooter and his family”.

In total, the man shot dead 10 employees and five customers. Among the injured, four victims remain at Regional One Hospital in Memphis in stable condition, according to the statement

The shooter was found dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Lane said.

In the coming days, city officials and Kroger are expected to meet to discuss the reopening of the Kroger store, as well as next steps involving employee and community support, according to the update.

Kroger’s spokeswoman Teresa Dickerson said the grocery chain provides advice to store employees.

There have been shootings in at least two other grocery stores this year. In March, a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado left 10 people dead. And one person was killed in a supermarket shootout in West Hempstead, New York, in April.

Employees hidden in freezers

At around 1:30 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, the Collierville Communications Center received a call to 911 regarding an active shooter at the Kroger, Lane told reporters outside the store. There was actually a patrol car near the store when the 911 call came in, Lane said.

Brignetta Dickerson was working at the cash register when she said the shooting started in the deli section.

She told WMC that she had run with some of her co-workers to hide, but the gunman came right behind them and started shooting.
Shooter in fatal Tennessee grocery store shooting was third-party supplier, police say

“He kept shooting, shooting, shooting,” Dickerson said. “He shot one of my coworkers in the head, then one of the clients in the stomach, then my other client got cuts from the asphalt.”

Dickerson, who has worked at Kroger for 32 years, said she was fine but was a little scared and shaking.

When officers entered the store, they found people who had been shot. A SWAT team, patrol boats and other command personnel moved from aisle to aisle and room to room, bringing out employees who were in hiding and assisting injured victims, Lane said.

Some people “pretended to be shot,” and an employee who ran to the roof was eventually escorted down, he said.

Several employees were found hiding in freezers or locked in offices. “They were doing what they were trained to do: run, hide, fight,” Lane said.

The shooting ended minutes after police received a call, and investigators believe the gunman shot himself “as we were on our way to the scene,” Lane said.

CNN’s Jenn Selva and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link