Shooting in Arkansas: 3 dead, 10 injured in Fordyce grocery store

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) — A gunman who opened fire inside an Arkansas grocery store on Friday left both the store and parked cars riddled with bullet holes as passersby ran for cover inside the store and in the parking lot. Three people were killed and 10 others wounded, authorities said.

Among the injured were two police officers who exchanged fire with the gunman, state police said. The shooting occurred around 11:30 a.m. at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, a town of about 3,200 residents 65 miles south of Little Rock.

“It’s tragic, our hearts are broken,” Col. Mike Hagar, state police director and minister of public safety, told reporters Friday.

Neither the officers nor the suspected shooter suffered life-threatening injuries. The other injuries ranged from “non-life-threatening to extremely critical,” Hagar said.

It is the latest mass shooting to feature a grocery store as the backdrop. A white supremacist in 2022 10 blacks killed in a Buffalo supermarket. This shooting occurred just over a year after a shooting in a Boulder, Colorado, supermarketin which 10 people were killed.

Police did not immediately say whether the shooting occurred inside or outside the store. The identities of the suspected shooter or victims could not be determined, but police said they expect to release more information Friday evening.

Roderick Rogers, a city council member, said he called the county sheriff when employees at his nearby restaurant informed him of the shooting.

Rogers said when he got there, he saw people running for cover in all directions, one even running to the nearby hospital.

“People just jumped into cars to get to safety,” Rogers said.

A video posted on social media showed at least one person lying in the parking lot, while another showed several gunshots.

Amiya Doherty said she was in her mother’s car in the grocery store parking lot when she heard what she thought were fireworks. When she saw a man with a gun firing, she ducked out of sight, she said.

“I held my sister’s hand and told her I loved her,” Doherty said KATV television station in Little Rock.

Images from reporters on the scene showed a series of bullet holes in the grocery store’s window and shell casings scattered throughout the parking lot. Video footage showed local and state authorities arriving on the scene and at least one rescue helicopter landing nearby.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had been informed of the shooting.

“I am grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic actions in saving lives,” Sanders posted on the social media platform X. “My prayers are with the victims and all those affected.”

David Rodriguez, 58, had stopped at his local gas station in Fordyce to fill up his car when he heard what he thought were fireworks coming from a nearby dealership’s stand.

“We heard some faint popping noises,” he said.

He then saw people running out of the Mad Butcher grocery store into the parking lot and a person lying on the ground. He began recording video with his phone before the gunfire escalated.

“The police came and then there was massive gunfire and ambulances came,” he said. “Bullets were flying.”

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Associated Press reporter Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report