On Friday, an armed individual attacked a supermarket in Fordyce, Arkansas, resulting in three fatalities and injuries to 10 additional individuals, including two police officers. Arkansas State Police confirmed these details.
In a confrontation with law enforcement, the assailant was wounded and subsequently detained, according to Mike Hagar, the director of the Arkansas State Police. Hagar was addressing the press citizens in relation to the incident, which unfolded at Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, a small city situated around 112km towards the south of Little Rock, with a population of 3,200 people.
Regrettably, 11 civilians were victims of the shooting incident. Tragically, of these 11, three lost their lives. Two police officers sustained injuries during the gunfire exchange. The perpetrator of the attack was also injured and now is in police custody,” Hagar informed.
All the injured parties, the police officers and the assailant included, are anticipated to recover. The injuries of the rest of the victims vary in severity, from minor to critically severe. The cause behind this act of violence continues to be unestablished.
Arkansas law enforcement disclosed the identity of the suspect as New Edinburg resident Travis Eugene Posey, aged 44, later on Friday. Posey is facing triple counts of capital murder. Police added that other charges are being contemplated. Records from Ouachita County Jail, which neighbours Dallas County where the act occurred, showed Posey faced charges of murder and attempted murder.
Evidence obtained from social media depicts bullet riddled windows of the shop and a person randomly shooting from the parking lot.
David Rodriguez, a Kingsland resident, was refuelling his vehicle at a nearby petrol station when he mistook the initial gunshots for fireworks. He filmed the subsequent exchange of gunfire between the police and the suspect before he had to escape the scene. Another witness, Matt Gill, was working his shift as a butcher in Mad Butcher when the gunfire started. Gill managed to guide his co-workers out of the supermarket through the back exit, though some of his colleagues got left behind in the panic.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Governor, stated that she had been briefed about the incident on platform X, a social media platform.
Ms Huckabee expressed her gratitude to the police and initial respondents for their swift and courageous efforts in preserving lives. She offered her prayers to the casualties and all those affected by this dreadful occurrence.
An announcement from the White House revealed that President Joe Biden had received an update regarding the shooting, and federal agencies were contributing toward the examination of the incident.
Shootings at various American outlets have become alarmingly frequent in recent times. Back in 2019, a shooter took the lives of 23 individuals at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. A year ago, in 2021, a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado was the scene of a fatal shooting with 10 victims. Earlier this year, in 2022, another heinous act unfolded when a shooter killed 10 people at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.