Fourth victim of mass shooting at Arkansas grocery store dies as police investigation continues

CNN
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A fourth victim died in a shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, on Saturday night, authorities said, as police continued their investigation into the attack.

A man opened fire at the Mad Butcher in Fordyce on Friday, killing four people aged between 23 and 81 and injuring nine others.

The suspected shooter, identified by authorities as 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey, is expected to face four counts of capital murder with additional charges pending, according to an Arkansas State Police news release. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday, Dallas County District Attorney Eric Marks said.

According to Arkansas State Police, officers responded to the shooting around 11:30 a.m. and exchanged fire with the suspect. Cellphone video shows a man firing a long gun in multiple directions in the parking lot.

Matthew Gill, the meat manager at Mad Butcher, told CNN that a man entered the store with a shotgun and a shootout with police ensued.

Posey was “treated for non-life-threatening injuries following an exchange of gunfire with police” and taken to the Ouachita County Detention Center, state police said in the news release. It is unclear if Posey has retained legal counsel at this time.

The four people killed in the shooting were identified by police as: 23-year-old Callie Weems, 50-year-old Roy Sturgis, 62-year-old Shirley Taylor and 81-year-old Ellen Shrum.

Taylor’s daughter, Angela Atchley, told CNN that her mother loved her family and children and was “the hardest-working woman I know” and a “great human being.”

“We are completely lost,” Atchley said.

Five women and two men, aged between 20 and 65, were injured in the shooting. Four of them are still in hospital, including one woman who is in critical condition. Three victims were treated and released on Friday. Two police officers were also injured in the shooting. One was released from the hospital on Saturday evening, another suffered minor injuries.

There has been a spate of shootings in the United States in recent weeks. Since last Friday, the Gun Violence Archive has recorded 24 mass shootings. These include shootings at a paddling pool in Michigan, at a Juneteenth celebration in Texas and at a car rally in Massachusetts.

They are among at least 238 mass shootings that have occurred in the United States in 2024, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. Like CNN, the archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people (not including the shooter) are shot.

Panicked shoppers hid in the freezer and sought shelter

Katrina Doherty, who was shopping for dinner with her 18-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, said she first thought she heard something fall, but then she saw glass shatter and someone fall to the ground. That’s when she knew shots had been fired.

Outside, David Rodriguez pulled into a gas station when he heard “popping noises” that he initially thought were fireworks. Then he noticed that the windows at the front of the convenience store were shattered – as if they had been “shot open” by gunfire, Rodriguez said.

Panicked shoppers began to flee as shots were fired in rapid succession, Rodriguez said.

Finding no way to escape, Doherty and others inside the store hastily hid in a freezer. Doherty’s daughter and son, who were in another aisle, reunited with their mother in the back of the store and followed two store employees into the freezer. The 39-year-old mother said she heard about nine or 10 gunshots before she made it into the icy shelter.

“We ran in there really fast. We could still hear gunshots,” Doherty said. “It was like slow motion. My daughter said, ‘Mommy, pinch me, this can’t be true.’ And I said, ‘Baby, it’s true.'”

From outside, Rodriguez heard sirens and saw ambulances and police arriving at the scene.

Doherty couldn’t hear what was going on outside, and when they tried to call 9-1-1, there was no reception. The group stayed inside and endured the freezing cold in “panic,” with some praying and others crying, she recalls.

Her son started crying, “but we finally calmed him down because I didn’t want the shooter to hear.”

“We just sat there and prayed. I was panicking. My son almost froze to death. We tried to calm him down, but he said he wanted to go to his dad. It felt like we were in there forever,” Doherty said. “We were in there for maybe 15 minutes. I asked the Lord to protect us all. I just prayed. The other woman prayed. She was crying.”

At one point, one of the employees opened the freezer door and saw a dead person right outside, Doherty said. The door remained closed until one of the store employees outside heard police. Then they were escorted out of the store, Doherty said.

After leaving the store, Doherty met her 15-year-old twin daughters, who had been waiting outside in the car during the shooting and ducked when they heard the gunshots.