Three dead, 11 injured in mass shooting at south Arkansas grocery store • Arkansas Advocate

Three people were killed and 11 injured, including the suspect and two police officers, in a shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, Friday morning, according to Arkansas State Police.

The injuries to the suspect and police officers are not believed to be life-threatening, ASP Director Mike Hagar said at a press conference this afternoon near the crime scene.

The condition of the remaining victims ranged from non-life-threatening to “extremely critical,” Hagar said.

State police later identified the suspected shooter as Travis “Joey” Posey. A posting on the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Jail website shows that 44-year-old Travis Posey is being held in another county. Posey is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to the inmate search site VINELink. ASP later confirmed this information in a press release.

A LinkedIn page lists Posey as the owner of Posey Tree Service in Kingsland, Cleveland County.

The shooting occurred around 11:30 a.m. at the Mad Butcher, part of a regional grocery chain, in a small strip mall at 920 W. 4th Street. Fordyce (population 3,238 in 2022) is about an hour’s drive south of Little Rock in Dallas County.

Hagar did not disclose the identities of the dead or injured, nor that of the shooter, at his 4 p.m. press conference, but said there was no further threat to the community.

“It’s tragic, our hearts are broken,” he said.

KARK 4 News reporter Caitrin Assaf said she spoke with the parents of one of the victims. They told her their 23-year-old daughter, a nurse, was unable to work Friday and was likely out shopping when she was shot.

A video posted on Facebook by Casey D. Rodriguez, taken from the perspective of a nearby gas station, shows a person lying on the ground behind a car. Eleven gunshots and sirens can be heard. Other online videos and photos show store windows riddled with dozens of bullet holes.

Another video shot from a store on X, posted by user @LRHNcash, shows a man with a long gun systematically firing in different directions.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette interviewed Ronald Clayton, who said he and his wife had just pulled into the Mad Butcher parking lot when something hit the windshield of his Nissan Sentra. At first he thought it was a rock, then he realized it was bullets, he told the newspaper. A photo accompanying the report shows a car with about a dozen bullet holes in the right front fender and door.

In a post on X early Friday afternoon, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressed gratitude for the “heroic actions” of police and other first responders and said her prayers were with the victims.

I have been informed of the tragic shooting in Fordyce and am in constant contact with State Police on the scene. I am grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic actions in saving lives. My prayers are with the victims and all those affected…

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) 21 June 2024

Data from the Gun Violence Archive shows Friday’s mass shooting was the second this month in Arkansas and the sixth this year. A mass shooting is one in which four or more victims are injured or killed, not counting the shooter or shooters, according to the website.

Anna Morshedi of Greater Little Rock Moms Demand Action and Insherah Qazi, a member of the National Organizing Board of Students Demand Action of Arkansas, both issued statements on the shooting Friday afternoon and called for action to stop the wave of gun violence in the United States.

“Our condolences go out to those injured and their families following today’s shooting – where yet another grocery store purchase ended in tragedy due to the gun violence crisis in America,” Morshedi said. “We are tired of having to live in fear every day because our lawmakers refuse to put our safety first.”

“It’s heartbreaking to see this senseless violence continue to spread in our communities. But this is what happens when our state doesn’t have basic gun safety laws in place,” Qazi said. “Arkansas has the weakest gun laws in the country and our gun violence rates show that. Going to the grocery store shouldn’t be a death sentence. The answer to how to solve this crisis is clear. It’s just a matter of whether lawmakers have the courage to act.”

The Arkansas chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action are part of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Arkansas has the weakest gun laws of any state in the country, ranking 50th in the Everytown Gun Law Rankings.

Lawmakers repealed an Arkansas law in 2021 that required a permit to carry a gun concealed in public, and amended the law in 2023 to clarify that the concealed carry license is only to allow reciprocity for licensees traveling to other states that require a permit to carry a handgun concealed. Act 777 also specifies that a person in Arkansas does not need a license to carry a handgun concealed.

According to Everytown, Arkansas has the ninth highest rate of gun deaths in the U.S. In an average year, 638 people die from guns in Arkansas and another 1,247 people are injured.