One killed, 12 injured in US supermarket shooting

By: AFP
Published: 10:11 AM, 24 Sep, 2021
One killed, 12 injured in US supermarket shooting
Caption: Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane speaks with the media outside of a Kroger grocery where a gunman went on a shooting spree.–AFP
Stay tuned with 24 News HD Android App
Get it on Google Play

A shooter opened fire Thursday at a supermarket near Memphis, Tennessee, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others before he shot himself dead, police said.

The rampage occurred at a Kroger grocery store in Collierville, a suburban town east of Memphis.

One victim was killed, while the shooter died of a "self-inflicted gunshot wound," Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane told reporters.

Lane said some of the victims had "very serious injuries" and cautioned that the toll from the tragedy could rise.

Multiple forces including S.W.A.T. teams converged on the supermarket to secure the area, with police going aisle to aisle to help employees and shoppers evacuate the building, Lane said.

He described a "horrific" scene at the store, where officers "found people hiding in freezers and in locked offices."

Lane would not say whether the assailant was a Kroger employee, but added that the shooting was under investigation by the FBI and other agencies.

Mass shootings and other gun violence are huge problems in the United States, issues that gun control advocates say are fueled by the prevalence of firearms and relatively lax gun laws.

Agence France-Presse is an international news agency.