Three dead, 11 injured in mass shooting at south Arkansas grocery store – Arkansas Advocate

A shooting Friday morning at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, left three people dead and 11 injured, including the suspect and two law enforcement officers, according to Arkansas State Police.

The suspect and law enforcement officers are not considered to have life-threatening injuries, ASP Director Mike Hagar said during an afternoon news conference near the scene of the shooting.

The condition of the other victims ranges from “extremely critical,” Hagar said.

State police later identified the suspected shooter as Travis “Joey” Posey. A booking record on the Ouachita County Sheriff's Jail website shows Travis Posey, 44, as being held in another county. Posey is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to the inmate search site VINELink. The ASP subsequently confirmed this information in a press release.

A LinkedIn page lists Posey as the owner of Posey Tree Service in Kingsland, Cleveland County.

The shooting happened around 11:30 a.m. at the Mad Butcher, part of a regional grocery chain, located at 920 W. 4th Street in a small shopping center. Fordyce (2022 population 3,238) is about an hour's drive south of Little Rock in Dallas County.

Hagar did not reveal the identities of any of the dead, injured or the shooter during his 4 p.m. news conference, but said there was no ongoing threat to the community.

“It’s tragic, our hearts are broken,” he said.

KARK 4 News reporter Caitrin Assaf said she spoke to the parents of one of the deceased victims. They told him their 23-year-old daughter, a nurse, was not at work Friday and was likely running errands when she was shot.

A video posted to Facebook by Casey D. Rodriguez from the vantage point of a nearby gas station convenience store shows a person lying on the ground behind a vehicle; 11 gunshots are heard accompanied by sirens. Other videos and photos online show store windows with dozens of bullet holes.

Another video shot from inside a store on X and posted by user @LRHNcash shows a man with a long gun methodically shooting in different directions.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette interviewed Ronald Clayton, who said he and his wife were walking toward the Mad Butcher parking lot when something hit the windshield of his Nissan Sentra. He first thought it was a rock, then realized it was bullets, he told the newspaper. A photo accompanying the report shows a car with a dozen bullet holes in the right front fender and door.

In an article on X Friday afternoon, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she was grateful for the “heroic actions” of law enforcement and other first responders and said her prayers were with the victims.

I have been informed of the tragic Fordyce shooting and am in constant contact with the State Police on scene. I thank law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives. My prayers go out to the victims and all those affected by this situation…

– Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) June 21, 2024

Gun violence archive data shows Friday's shooting was the second this month in Arkansas and the sixth this year. According to the site, a mass shooting leaves at least four victims, injured or killed, excluding the shooter(s).

Anna Morshedi of Greater Little Rock Moms Demand Action and Insherah Qazi, a member of the national Demand Action student organizing committee from Arkansas, both released statements on the shooting Friday afternoon, calling for action to stem the wave of gun violence in the United States.

“Our hearts go out to those who were injured and their families after today's shooting – where another trip to the grocery store ended in tragedy due to the gun violence crisis in the United States. United,” Morshedi said. “We are tired of having to live in fear every day because our lawmakers refuse to prioritize our safety. »

“It is heartbreaking to see such senseless violence continue to spread in our communities. But that’s what happens when our state doesn’t have basic gun safety laws,” Qazi said. “Arkansas has the weakest gun laws in the country and our gun violence rates prove it. Going to the grocery store shouldn't be a death sentence. The answer to this crisis is clear: it is simply a question of whether lawmakers have the courage to act.”

The Arkansas chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action are part of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Arkansas has the weakest gun laws of any state in the country, ranking 50th in the Everytown Gun Law rankings.

In 2021, lawmakers repealed an Arkansas law requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public and amended the law in 2023 to clarify that the concealed carry permit is intended only to allow reciprocity for permit holders who travel to other states that require a permit to carry a concealed handgun. . Act 777 also clarifies that a person is not required to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Arkansas.

According to Everytown, Arkansas has the 9th highest gun death rate in the United States. In an average year, 638 people die from gunshots and another 1,247 people are injured in Arkansas.