The gunman who opened fire at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, on Friday, killing four and wounding 10, did not target anyone and had no known ties to the victims, authorities said. But police officers in the town of 3,400 who responded to the scene and ultimately subdued the gunman couldn't have felt more connected.
“They knew everybody personally, from the suspect to the victim at the scene,” Arkansas State Police Chief Mike Hager said. He said officers and deputies did not refer to the victims by a collective name. “They called the victims by name. They know the victims. They're friends. They're neighbors.” And that, he said, made the case “very personal and very difficult.”
That level of closeness was made clear Sunday when police gave their most detailed account yet of the unrest, which lasted virtually eight minutes: Officers arrived at the Mad Butcher grocery store three minutes after the first shots were fired and had the gunman under control five minutes later.
Four people were killed: Carrie Weems, 23; Roy Sturgis, 50; Shirley Taylor, 62; and Ellen Schramm, 81. One more person was found wounded in the gunman's attack late Saturday, bringing the death toll to 10. Of the five hospitalized, one woman remains in critical condition at a Little Rock hospital, Hager said.
Weems, a trained nurse, was inside the grocery store when she saw someone get shot and instead of running from the store, she went to tend to the person, Hager said, before she was shot herself.
“It's one of the most selfless acts I've ever seen,” he said.
The suspect, Travis Eugene Posey, 44, of nearby New Edinburg, is expected to be charged with four counts of murder, including capital murder. Hager said it was unclear when Posey's first court appearance would be, or whether he had an attorney.
At a news conference in Little Rock, Haggar cautioned that the investigation was still ongoing and that Posey's motive was unclear, but he added that no indications had emerged yet. “This was a totally random and senseless act,” he said.
Hager said he did not know if Posey, known as Joey, had any health or mental health issues, but said “clearly that will be a focus of the investigation.”
Still, as the grieving community prepared for a candlelight vigil and prayer outside the Mad Butcher on Sunday evening, Hager made no secret of his outrage at what he called “the most despicable, pathetic act imaginable, preying on literally defenseless victims, many of whom were women.”
Hager said Posey arrived in a truck at the strip mall that houses the Mad Butcher just before noon Friday, carrying a 12-gauge shotgun and a pistol and wearing a bandolier with dozens of shotgun shells.
The gunman, who was not wearing a bulletproof vest, quickly opened fire on people in the parking lot, then entered the grocery store and “began firing indiscriminately at both customers and employees,” Hager said.
Posey was acting alone, he added. Officers from the Fordyce Police Department and Dallas County Sheriff's Office, along with Sheriff Mike Knoedl, responded to the scene. After dozens of rounds of gunfire left Posey wounded, authorities opted to take him into custody in neighboring Ouachita Parish because of the likelihood that local law enforcement was involved.
“We just needed a little bit of isolation and space,” Hagar said.
The Fordyce Police Department later posted on its Facebook page that it was the worst day in the town's history. “It was a terrifying experience for both the community and our police department,” police said.
Weems' mother, Helen Browning, said in an interview Sunday that her daughter, who worked at Dallas County Medical Center, not far from the Mad Butcher, “probably looked after all the officers who were there, or their children.”
“She died doing what she loved,” Browning said.
Browning also said he knows the Posey family, who have lived in the area for generations.
“I have no hatred in my heart. This is no sin against them,” she said. “I will go to their homes later and tell them in person because I know they are hurting too.”
On Saturday, Patricia Pinkard, 65, who lives in the small white house just behind and to the left of the Mad Butcher, began to cry as she spoke about the shooting, a home she has lived in on and off her whole life.
Fordyce is truly a “small town,” she said.
Erica Sweeney Contributed report.