Shooting at Arkansas grocery store kills two, injures 8; shooter also wounded

Fordyce, AR — Ten people were shot, 2 fatally, following an active shooter incident at Mad Butcher Grocery in Fordyce, Arkansas, according to state police.

One law enforcement officer was among those shot and has non-life-threatening injuries. The gunman was also shot and critically wounded by responding officers.

“At approximately 11:30 a.m. today, Arkansas State Police responded to a shooting incident at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce,” said a news release from Arkansas State Police. “A total of nine civilians were shot, two fatally. One law enforcement officer was also shot and has non-life-threatening injuries.”

The suspected shooter was critically injured, according to the release, and is in custody.

In a statement on X, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had been briefed on the “tragic shooting” in Fordyce and is in “constant contact” with state police at the scene.

One witness, David Rodriguez, told CNN that he was pulling into a gas station when he heard “pops,” which he thought were fireworks. Shortly after the suspect began firing bullets more rapidly, Rodriguez saw people running from the scene. He then heard sirens and saw ambulances and police arrive at the scene.

Rodriguez says the Mad Butcher grocery store’s front windows were broken as if they had been “shot open” by gunfire.

Matthew Gill, the meat manager at the Mad Butcher, told CNN a man came into the store with a shotgun and ended up in a shootout with police.

As the shooting unfolded, some people hid in a cooler in the grocery store, Fordyce City Council Member Roderick Rogers told CNN affiliate KATV. He said he was on the phone with someone in the store when the shooting took place.

“Man, it was bad,” Rogers said.

The council member said that he had talked to survivors of the shooting who “are traumatized.”

“We are trying to get some counseling and everything set up at the moment,” he added.

At least 234 mass shootings have taken place in the United States in 2024, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Fordyce, a small city in southeast Dallas County, had a population of just 3,396 in 2020.

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