Police arrested suspect Travis Eugene Posey, 44, of New Edinburg, on Friday evening. He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Hager said.
Hager said the gunman first opened fire in the store’s parking lot, then went inside and “began firing randomly inside the store,” before returning to the parking lot and engaging in a shootout with police, who arrived within three minutes of the initial 911 call. The suspect was wounded in the shootout.
Posey was being held in Ouachita County, which borders Dallas County, according to the sheriff’s office’s inmate roster. The Arkansas Department of Public Safety said in a news release Saturday that he will be charged with four counts of murder. If convicted, he could face either the death penalty or life in prison.
The five people killed in the shooting were Roy Sturgis, 50; Shirley Taylor, 62; Carrie Weems, 23; and Ellen Schramm, 81. Schramm died Saturday evening.
Two police officers were among those injured, authorities said.
It was the 12th mass shooting this year in the United States, according to a database compiled by Northeastern University, the Associated Press and USA Today, which defines a deadly mass shooting as a mass killing in which “most or all of the victims are killed by gunfire.”
Fordyce is about 60 miles south of downtown Little Rock and has a population of about 3,700, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
According to NBC News, Weems was a nurse and the mother of a 10-month-old girl. Hager said that instead of fleeing the store when the rioting began, Weems stopped to help a shooting victim and was then shot herself.
“It was one of the most selfless acts I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Taylor was devoted to her multigenerational family in Chambersville, caring for her husband and mother, who had diabetes, and helping care for her grandchildren, her daughter told NBC News.
Sturgis’ obituary published Sunday said he lived in Kingsland, about five miles northeast of Fordyce, and is survived by a daughter, stepchildren and other family members.
One of the couples attacked by the gunman, Thomas Brazill Sr., 65, and Sharon Brazill, 61, hadn’t even entered the store yet.
His daughter, Nancy Brazile, told The Washington Post that they were in the parking lot outside the store when the gunman began firing at their car.
The bullet grazed Thomas Brazill in the forehead. His wife was not physically injured.
“They’re lucky they’re safe,” Nancy Brazile said, adding that her parents’ car was shot at more than 20 times.
Kelsey Baker and Amber Ferguson contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
