The shooting happened Friday morning at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce. Police shot and critically injured the suspected shooter. The wounded officers' injuries are not life-threatening, according to Arkansas state police.
Police didn't say if the shooting happened inside or outside the store. Authorities planned a news briefing for later Friday afternoon.
Fordyce is a city of about 3,200 people, located 65 miles south of Little Rock, the state capital.
A video on social media showed a person lying in the parking lot, and another video captured the sound of multiple gunshots.
TV images showed many bullet holes in the grocery store’s window. Video footage showed local and state agencies responding, with at least one medical helicopter landing nearby.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she was briefed on the shooting. In a statement on social media, she thanked police and first responders for their quick action to save lives and offered prayers for the victims and those affected.
This is the latest mass shooting at a grocery store. In 2022, a white supremacist killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. A year earlier, a shooting at a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket killed 10 people.
As of Friday, there had been at least 234 mass shootings in the US this year, averaging more than one per day, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The non-partisan online resource defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more victims are wounded or killed.
The high rate of mass shootings in the US has led some to demand stronger gun control measures. However, the federal government has largely failed to respond to these calls.
David Rodriguez, 58, was at a local gas station in Fordyce filling up his car when he heard what he thought were fireworks from a nearby vendor’s stand.
"We heard a few little pops," he told the Associated Press.
He saw people running out of the Mad Butcher grocery store into the parking lot, and noticed one person lying on the ground. He started recording video with his phone before the situation escalated further.
"The police arrived, and then there was intense gunfire with ambulances pulling up," he said. "Bullets were flying everywhere."
SOURCE: The Guardian