3 dead, 10 wounded, in Arkansas grocery store shooting, authorities say

By: CNN

Posted: Jun 21, 2024 3:08 PM CDT
Updated: Jun 21, 2024 10:20 PM CDT

David Rodriguez/Facebook via CNN Newsource

By Zoe Sottile and Justin Lear

(CNN) — Three people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, the Arkansas State Police said in a news conference Friday.

The 10 people wounded include two police officers. The suspected shooter, identified by authorities as 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey, was also wounded and taken into custody.

Posey, a resident of New Edinburg, is expected to be charged with three counts of capital murder, with additional charges pending, according to an Arkansas State Police news release.

Police first received calls about an active shooter at the Mad Butcher grocery store at around 11:30 a.m. local time, Mike Hagar, the Secretary of Public Safety and Director of Arkansas State Police said at the news conference.

Law enforcement responded immediately and exchanged gunfire with the “lone suspect.”

The injuries to the officers and the suspect are not considered life-threatening, according to Hagar. He noted the “situation is secured …contained. There are no active threats to the community.”

“The remaining civilian injuries range from non-life threatening to extremely critical,” he said.

Posey was “treated for non-life-threatening injuries after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement, released to ASP custody, and transported to the Ouachita County Detention Center,” ASP said in the release. It is unclear if Posey has retained legal counsel at this point.

At least 234 mass shootings have taken place in the United States in 2024, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. The country has seen a spate of shootings in the past few weeks as the summer heat has escalated, with 21 mass shootings recorded by the Gun Violence Archive since last Friday.

In a statement on X, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had been briefed on the “tragic shooting” in Fordyce and is in “constant contact” with state police at the scene.

One witness, David Rodriguez, told CNN that he was pulling into a gas station when he heard “pops,” which he thought were fireworks. Shortly after the suspect began firing bullets more rapidly, Rodriguez saw people running from the scene. He then heard sirens and saw ambulances and police arrive at the scene.

Rodriguez says the Mad Butcher grocery store’s front windows were broken as if they had been “shot open” by gunfire.

Matthew Gill, the meat manager at the Mad Butcher, told CNN a man came into the store with a shotgun and ended up in a shootout with police.

As the shooting unfolded, some people hid in a cooler in the grocery store, Fordyce City Council Member Roderick Rogers told CNN affiliate KATV. He said he was on the phone with someone in the store when the shooting took place.

“Man, it was bad,” Rogers said.

The council member said that he had talked to survivors of the shooting who “are traumatized.”

“We are trying to get some counseling and everything set up at the moment,” he added.

Fordyce, a small city in southeast Dallas County, had a population of just 3,396 in 2020.

This is a developing story and will be updated.