At least three people were killed and 10 injured in a mass shooting at a grocery store in Arkansas on Friday, according to authorities.
The suspect was shot by police and is in custody with non-life-threatening injuries, said Mike Hagar, director of the Arkansas State Police and secretary of the state’s Department of Public Safety. Two of those wounded are law enforcement officers, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Speaking at an afternoon news conference, Hagar said that some of the shooting victims are in “extremely critical” condition.
The shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store took place at around 11:30 a.m. CT in Fordyce, a small city 70 miles south of Little Rock.
Officials did not release the name of the suspect. Hagar said it was too early to determine the shooter’s motive.
Matt Gill, who was working in the store at the time, told NBC News that he heard gunfire and glass breaking.
“He came in and started shooting,” Gill said. “We made it out the back door. I had to get out there; I have a wife and kids at home.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on X that she had been briefed on the situation. “I am thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives,” she wrote, calling the shooting a “horrific incident.”
The Mad Butcher shooting follows several other recent incidents of mass gun violence this week. On Wednesday, seven people were injured in a shooting in Philadelphia, and mass shootings broke out at Juneteenth celebrations in California and Texas.
Arkansas has the weakest gun laws of all 50 states and among the highest rates of gun violence in the country, according to Everytown Research & Policy, which studies gun violence in the U.S.
