Arkansas supermarket shooting leaves three dead and 10 wounded as gunman arrested
A supermarket shooting in Arkansas, US, has left three people dead and 10 others wounded.
Parked cars and shop windows were left riddled with bullet holes after a gunman opened fire on Friday, forcing bystanders to dive for cover.
Among the injured were two police officers who shot back at the gunman – before he was arrested.
The incident took place around 11.30am local time at the Mad Butcher supermarket in Fordyce – a city of just over 3,000 people located 65 miles south of Little Rock.
Colonel Mike Hagar, director of Arkansas State Police, told reporters: “It’s tragic, our hearts are broken”.
The gunman was identified by police as 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey.
Posey was taken to jail and charged with three counts of murder.
Other charges are still pending and no court date has been set, according to the inmate roster.
Police on the scene of the attack in the aftermath of the shooting. Pic: AP
Neither Posey’s, nor the officers’ injuries were life threatening, but among the others the injuries ranged from “not life-threatening to extremely critical”, Col Hagar said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the motive for the shooting was, nor if it took place predominantly inside or outside the shop.
Roderick Rogers, a member of the city council, witnessed the attack.
He said he saw people fleeing for cover in all directions and added: “People were just jumping into cars to get to safety.”
Law enforcement officers work the scene of the shooting. Pic: AP
Amiya Doherty said she was in her mum’s car in the car park of the shop when she heard what she thought were fireworks.
But she then saw a man holding a gun and firing and said she ducked out of view.
“I held my sister’s hand and I told her I love her,” Ms Doherty told Little Rock television station KATV.
Images from the scene showed a slew of bullet holes in the grocery store’s window, and spent shell casings strewn throughout the parking lot.
The shooting took place at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas. Pic: AP
Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had been briefed on the shooting.
In a post on social media she added: “I am thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives.
“My prayers are with the victims and all those impacted by this.”
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The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and his team will continue to keep him updated.
David Rodriguez, 58, had stopped at his local petrol station in the town when he heard what he thought were fireworks.
But he too saw people fleeing from the shop and one person lying on the ground.
“The police started to show up, and then there was massive gunfire and ambulances pulling up,” he said.
“The bullets were just flying.”
One person has been killed and 12 are trapped about 300m (1,000ft) underground at a former Colorado gold mine that’s now a tourist attraction.
It happened around noon on Thursday when a lift failed at Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine attraction in Cripple Creek.
Rescuers are trying to repair the elevator to bring the trapped people back to the surface.
With one group already below ground, the lift had a mechanical fault with another group inside as it was about halfway down the mineshaft, said Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell.
The incident killed one person – although it’s not been revealed how they died – and four others suffered minor injuries.
That group was able to return to the surface but the lift is out of commission until the problem is identified and fixed.
Radio communication with the trapped group – 11 tourists and their guide – is working and they have water, blankets and chairs, said the sheriff.
He said they hadn’t been told someone had died, only that there’s a problem with the lift.
Firefighters are on standby for a rescue operation if the fault can’t be fixed.
Pic: AP
“If we have to, we can bring people up on those ropes, but it also subjects those first responders now to the threat
and endangerment of doing so,” said Mr Mikesell.
The former mine is about 110 miles (180km) south of Denver and has been operating tours for 50 years.
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Hurricane Milton has made landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said.
The category 3 storm hit shores near Siesta Key in Sarasota County around 8.30pm local time on Wednesday, bringing sustained winds of 120mph, the NHC in Miami said.
More than one million homes and businesses were without power – the highest of which were in Sarasota County and neighbouring Manatee County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
Hurricane Milton latest: Follow live updates
Milton is expected to bring a deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
At the time of landfall, nearly 100,000 people were in evacuation centres across Florida, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported, citing Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The streets of Cape Coral in Florida before Hurricane Milton hit. Pic: AP
Speaking from the White House earlier on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said Milton is expected to be “one of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida in over a century”.
He said it carries “incredible destructiveness and can wipe out communities and cause loss of life” while urging everyone in its path to listen to the advice of local officials.
The projected path of Hurricane Milton
Within minutes of Milton making landfall, a gust of 100mph was recorded in the Egmont Channel, south of St Petersburg, according to the NHC.
‘Daylight will reveal the full impact’
Reporting from Tampa, as the storm made landfall 60 miles away, Sky News US correspondent James Matthews said you could feel its “devastating power”.
“You can hear it in the roar, and sense it. You can feel it in the wind,” he said.
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Hurricane Milton ‘matter of life and death’
“They have called this a historic hurricane. The strongest to hit this part of Florida for more than 100 years.
“Reduced from a category 5 to a category 3 storm by the time it hit, but that doesn’t mean that it is not extremely powerful, extremely dangerous, and will have, one imagines, a devastating impact.
A man wanders through deserted streets in Tampa. Pic: AP
“This is all happening in the hours of darkness, daylight will reveal the full impact of Hurricane Milton.”
On Wednesday, officials issued last ditch attempts urging the near two million people under evacuation orders to flee or face slim chances of survival.
Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, said: “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Pic: Reuters
While Paul Womble, Polk County emergency management director, said: “Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we suggest you just hunker down.”
A stream of vehicles was pictured headed north on Interstate 75, the main road on the west side of the peninsula, as residents followed evacuation orders.
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Why is Hurricane Milton shocking experts?
Traffic also clogged up the southbound lanes of the road for miles as others headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.
Meanwhile, animals at Tampa’s zoo took shelter in hurricane-hardened buildings.
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The region is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities and killed more than 200 people.
Once past Florida, Milton should weaken over the west of the Atlantic Ocean, possibly dropping below hurricane strength on Thursday night, but storm-surges will still pose a threat to the state’s Atlantic coast.
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