Petrified Arkansas grocery store shoppers hid inside freezers as a madman went on a shooting rampage, killing four, including an 81-year-old who succumbed to her injuries on Saturday.
Shoppers at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Ark. recalled hearing “pops” just before 11:30 a.m. on Friday believing something either fell or someone was setting off fireworks, according to CNN.
Katrina Doherty had been shopping for dinner with her daughter, 18, and son, 4, when suspected gunman Travis Eugene Posey opened fire at the store.
The 39-year-old mother was in a separate aisle from her children at the time but reunited with them as they raced alongside other shoppers to find shelter in the back of the store where two employees ushered them inside a freezer.
“We ran in there really fast. We still heard gunshots keep going off,” Katrina Doherty told the outlet. “It was like slow motion. My daughter was like ‘Mama, pinch me, this can’t be real.’ And I was like, ‘Baby, it’s real.’”
Doherty recalled hearing nine to ten rounds go off before finding shelter in the cold storage unit, where the group huddled in “panic mode,” bracing cold conditions, not knowing what was happening outside.
“We were just sitting there and praying,” she said. “I was in panic mode. My son about froze to death. We tried to get him quiet, but he was saying he wanted his daddy. It felt like we were in there forever,”
Doherty and the rest of the shoppers remained inside the freezer for roughly 15 minutes until police came and escorted them out.
She was then reunited with her 15-year-old twin daughters, who were waiting in the car outside, and ducked down when the gunfire rang out.
In the parking lot, Posey, armed with a long gun, allegedly fired in multiple directions, striking multiple people before police officers arrived.
Posey, 44, was shot after he exchanged gunfire with police.
He will be charged with four counts of capital murder, with additional charges still pending, the Arkansas State Police announced.
Posey was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and released to the Arkansas State Police is being held at the Ouachita County Detention Center.
He is expected to appear in court on Monday.
Shirley Taylor, 62, Callie Weems, 23, and Roy Sturgis, 50, were all identified as the civilians killed in the shooting on Friday.
Ellen Shrum, 81, died on Saturday evening.
Weems, a nurse at Dallas County Medical Center and mother of a 10-month-old daughter was grocery shopping when she was struck by gunfire.
“I checked Callie’s location because good ol’ Live 360 and it showed she was at the hospital,” Helen Browning told Fox 16. “I’m thinking, ‘She’s at work. She came in to help,’ There was… she was in town…”
Browning rushed down to the grocery store to learn the heartbreaking news when she didn’t hear back from her daughter.
“My best friend was standing right there and I said, ‘Kristie, tell me my baby’s ok.’ and she said, ‘I can’t,’ And that’s when I just broke,” Browning recalled.
“I just want to know why Joey Posey woke up this morning and decided he needed to go ruin families lives,” the heartbroken mother said.
Browning revealed her family lost another member in the shooting along with Callie.
“Our niece’s dad was in there also and he’s no longer with us,” Browning said. “So that’s a double whammy to our family.”
Roy Sturgis was remembered by his family in an online obituary, and is survived by his “pride and joy, his daughter.”
Shirley Taylor’s daughter called her mother “such a GREAT woman” that “didn’t deserve this.”
The shooting left nine others injured, with ages ranging from 20 to 65, the ASP said.
“Four of those individuals remain hospitalized, including a woman who is in critical condition at UAMS in Little Rock.”
Three of the injured civilians have already been released from the Dallas County Medical Center.
Two officers, James Johnson with the Fordyce Police Department and John Hudson with the Stuttgart Police Department were also wounded during the shooting.
Johnson, 31, was treated and released for a gunshot wound, as Hudson, 24, received “minor injuries.”