One dead, 12 wounded in Tennessee grocery store shooting

A Thursday afternoon shooting at a Kroger store in Tennessee left one dead and 12 wounded. All 12 were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries.

The video above includes clips from the scene, as well as statements from an officer and a witness.

The Kroger store where the shooting happened is located in Collierville, a suburban town about 30 miles east of Memphis.

Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane said officers found the shooter dead in the store of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The identities of the shooter, as well as the the victims, were not immediately released.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Kroger employees and customers described their experiences being in and around the store as the shooting happened.

“It first started in the deli and I heard some gunshots,” Brignetta Dickerson said. “We thought it was balloons popping, so  when it kept on going, we said, ‘No, that’s gunshots.’ So I ran.”

Meanwhile, Jason Lusk had just left the tool store next to the Kroger when he heard some women screaming in the parking lot about the shooting. He didn’t see the gunman, but heard 10 to 15 rounds in rapid succession.

“As the firing started, I dove in front of my vehicle onto the ground to provide the most cover for myself and instructed the people around me panicking, trying to get into the cars, not to get in their cars, but to actually hide,” Lusk said.

Back inside the store, Dickerson got an up close and personal view of the shooting.

“He comes right behind us, starts shooting. And he kept on shooting, shooting, shooting,” Dickerson said. “He shot one of my coworkers in the head and shot one of the customers in the stomach.”

According to Lusk, police arrived within minutes and “they swarmed that place”.

Lane said a SWAT team and other officers went aisle to aisle in the store after the shooting. There, they found people who sought cover in the store, or were in hiding during the shooting.

“We found people hiding in freezers, in locked offices,” Lane said. “They were doing what they had been trained to do: run, hide, fight.”

He went on to say it was a sad day for his department.

“I’ve been involved in this for 34 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told reporters near the store at a news conference after the meeting.