Two people are dead, including the suspected shooter, and at least a dozen others are wounded after a mass shooting Thursday afternoon at a Kroger grocery store in Collierville, Tenn., a suburb east of Memphis, officials said.
According to Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane, officers received a call at 1:30 p.m. local time Thursday about an active shooter at the supermarket.
Minutes later, police arrived and Lane says officers went aisle by aisle inside the store to search for victims who may have been injured, finding some hiding in freezers and locked offices. “They were doing what they had been trained to do — run, hide, fight,” Lane told at a news conference.
The suspected shooter is dead from what police believe is a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Lane said.
Officials said 14 people were treated for injuries. Lane said that some of the injuries were serious. He noted that an additional person who was at the scene later sought treatment for anxiety.
The Kroger Co., headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, released a statement saying it was “deeply saddened” by the shooting, according to The Associated Press. Ten of those shot were employees of the store.
Company officials say they are continuing to cooperate with local authorities, and the store will remain closed until further notice. Theresa Dickerson, a spokesperson with Kroger, said in a news conference that counseling would be available for all the store associates.
Collierville Police said there are no active threats at the moment along with no new victims.
Authorities are continuing to work with witnesses to understand the exact moments that took place before the shooting. No information on the motive behind the shooting was released by officials, who was identified as a “third-party vendor” for Kroger.
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This story was last updated at 11:15 a.m. Friday.
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