CNN
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Arkansas State Police announced at a press conference on Friday that a shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, left three people dead and 10 injured.
Two police officers were among the 10 injured. The suspect in the shooting, identified by authorities as Travis Eugene Posey, 44, was also wounded and taken into custody.
Posey, of New Edinburg, is expected to be charged with three counts of murder, with additional charges pending, according to a news release from Arkansas State Police.
Mike Hager, Arkansas State Police’s public safety commissioner and chief, said at a press conference that police first received a call about an active shooter at the Mad Butcher grocery store around 11:30 a.m. local time.
Police responded immediately and engaged in a gunfight with the “lone suspect.”
Haggar said injuries to the officer and suspect were not life-threatening. “The situation is safe and contained. There is no threat to the community,” he said.
“The remaining civilian injuries range from non-life threatening to extremely serious,” he said.
In a statement, ASP said Posey “was treated for non-life threatening injuries following a shootout with police and was taken into ASP custody and transported to the Ouachita County Detention Center.” It is unclear at this time if Posey has retained an attorney.
At least 234 mass shootings have occurred in the United States in 2024, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. Mass shootings have been rampant in the United States in recent weeks amid the increasing summer heat, with the Gun Violence Archive recording 21 mass shootings since last Friday.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in a statement about X, said she had been notified of the “tragic shooting” in Fordyce and was in “constant contact” with state police on the scene.
One witness, David Rodriguez, told CNN he was pulling into a gas station when he heard a “pop” but thought it was a firework. Shortly after the suspect began firing shots more rapidly, Rodriguez saw people running from the scene, then heard sirens and saw ambulances and police arriving on the scene.
Rodriguez said the front window of the Mad Butcher grocery store was shattered, as if it had been “shot out” by gunfire.
Matthew Gill, meat manager at Mad Butcher, told CNN that a man entered the store with a shotgun and a shootout ensued with police.
Fordyce City Councilman Roderick Rogers told CNN affiliate KATV that several people hid in coolers at the grocery store as gunfire continued, and that he was on the phone with someone inside the store when the shooting occurred.
“Oh man, it was awful,” Rodgers said.
The city council member said he has spoken to survivors of the shooting, who are “traumatized.”
“We are currently in the process of providing counselling and other arrangements,” he added.
Fordyce, a small city in southeastern Dallas County, had a population of just 3,396 in 2020.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
