Fordyce, Arkansas shooting: 3 dead, 10 injured following grocery store shooting

CNN
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Three people were killed and ten others injured in a shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, Arkansas State Police announced at a news conference Friday.

Among the 10 people injured were two police officers. The suspected shooter, identified by authorities as Travis Eugene Posey, 44, was also injured and taken into custody.

Posey, a New Edinburg resident, 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 around 11:30 a.m. local time, said Mike Hagar, secretary of public safety and director of the Arkansas State Police. during the press conference.

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

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

“The remaining civilian injuries range from those that are not life-threatening to those that are extremely serious,” he said.

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

At least 234 mass shootings took 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, according to CNN. exclusion of the shooter. The country has seen a wave of shootings in recent weeks as the summer heat intensified, with 21 mass shootings recorded by the Gun Violence Archive since last Friday.

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A witness, David Rodriguez, told CNN he was walking to a gas station when he heard “pops,” which he thought were fireworks. Shortly after the suspect began firing bullets more rapidly, Rodriguez saw people fleeing the scene. He then heard sirens and saw ambulances and police arriving at the scene.

Rodriguez claims the windows of the Mad Butcher grocery store were smashed as if they had been “opened” by gunfire.

Matthew Gill, the Mad Butcher's meat manager, told CNN that a man entered the store with a shotgun and got into a shootout with police.

As the shooting unfolded, some people hid in a cooler at 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 happened.

“Man, that was bad,” Rogers said.

The council member said he has spoken to survivors of the shooting who “are traumatized.”

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

Fordyce, a small town in southeastern Dallas County, had just 3,396 residents in 2020.

This is a developing story and will be updated.