Employee shot in the Whole Foods market in the Northeast

An employee was shot dead in a Whole Foods Market after an attempted robbery on Sunday morning that alarmed buyers and customers with young children. a busy shopping street on H Street NE.

DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said that the victim, a cashier, had been beaten twice but that she had survived after an argument with the shooter, who had tried to search the area. cashier's drawer. Newsham said the cashier had resisted "heroically" and that he was in a stable state in a hospital.

Nobody was injured by the suspect, who was carrying a handgun and was not apprehended, Newsham told reporters outside the store. 19659007] "We all feel very badly," said Said Kada, supervisor of the bakery, who was working in the kitchen of the store when he heard a shot. "It's as if someone in your family was shot."

Employees and customers described a chaotic, heartbreaking scene inside the store, which is in the 600 block of H Street BORN. Whole Foods is a relatively new addition to the booming corridor and is part of a project that includes luxury condominiums.

James Jackson, 38, lives in the neighborhood and has lunch in the store with his family.

"We heard an uproar, shouting, we felt that something had been knocked down, and then there was an explosion of gunfire," he said. "I seized my wife and my son for 15 months and I ran into the street to call the police."

Some employees escaped through a back entrance. Customers were rushed to food preparation areas to get into the shelter.

Within the meat department, one employee described the customers as "crossing my cutroom in my cooler and everyone was shouting," Shots were fired, "said the employee, who did not want to be identified because he was not allowed to talk to the media.

Ramsey Taylor, a resident of the area, had just left the store when he saw several families with young children running by the door. Another woman ran out, he said, crying and saying that someone had been shot dead.

After the shooting, employees and customers gathered in front of the store entrance, delimited by cables. Clients who fled were briefly allowed to go inside to recover their belongings.

Police directed residents to closely monitor a 25- to 30-year-old black man, wearing fears, wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans in a red Honda Accord with DC License Plate FT9420 [19659015] Peter Hermann and Natalie Jennings contributed to this report.