Police identify the armed man arrested at Missouri Walmart
Suspect was held at bay by an off-duty firefighter
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Five days after 22 people were killed at a Walmart store in El Paso, panicked shoppers fled a Springfield, Missouri, Walmart after a man carrying a rifle and wearing body armor walked around the store before being stopped by an off-duty firefighter.
Police on Friday identified the man as 20-year-old Dmitriy Andreychenko, from the Springfield area. He was being held in jail on suspicion of first-degree making a terrorist threat.
No shots were fired during the incident on Thursday. Andreychenko was arrested after he was stopped by an armed off-duty firefighter. No one was injured.
Lt. Mike Lucas said Andreychenko arrived Thursday afternoon wearing body armor and military-style clothing. He walked inside the store carrying a “tactical rifle,” another gun and more than 100 rounds of ammunition, Lucas said.
Lucas said an off-duty firefighter held the suspect at gunpoint until police arrived about three minutes after the initial call.
“His intent was not to cause peace or comfort to anybody that was in the business here,” Lucas said. “In fact, he’s lucky he’s alive still, to be honest.”
Security video from inside the store would be reviewed to determine Andreychenko’s demeanor and a possible motive, he said.
“His intent obviously was to cause chaos here, and he did that,” Lucas added.
Walmart issued a statement Friday praising authorities for keep- ing the incident from escalating and said Andreychenko is no longer welcome in its stores.
Potential charges in the case will depend on Andreychenko’s actions while he was in the store. Carrying an assault rifle in public is not necessarily a crime, an attorney said. “If he was looking at people in a menacing way or if he was saying something to other customers that was frightening to them — those would be factors” and could result in felony charges, the attorney added.