2 workers killed at Mississippi Walmart
Shooting suspect is described as former employee with a grievance
Two men were killed Tuesday in a shooting at a Mississippi Walmart in Southaven, and a suspect described as a disgruntled former employee was in custody, Southaven Police Chief Macon Moore said.
The suspect was shot when two officers confronted him and they exchanged fire, Moore said at a news conference. The suspect was in surgery at a local hospital.
A police officer was injured and taken to the hospital but is expected to be OK. The officer was hit in his bulletproof vest and not seriously hurt, Moore said.
Both victims were Walmart employees; one was found dead in the store and another dead in the parking lot. Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite described the shooter as a worker with a grievance against his employer; DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco said the shooter was an employee until Monday.
One of the victims was Brandon Gales, 38, who worked at Walmart for about 16 years and recently was promoted to department manager. Nicholas Gales, Brando Gales’s brother, said Brandon was a father of four.
The second victim was Anthony Brown, a 40-year-old father of two who worked as a store manager. He was from Caledonia, Mississippi.
The suspect has not been identified. “It wasn’t an accident,” said Travis Jones, an overnight stocker who was working when he heard shots. “He knew what he was doing.”
Jones said he saw the body of a store manager on the floor as workers ran out. “It was an ugly scene,” he said.
Police told reporters the first officers arrived on the scene at 6:36 a.m, just three minutes after initial calls came in. Two officers encountered the suspect outside, which is when the police officer was shot. About 60 employees were inside the store when officers arrived; police also were getting reports of a fire that had been set inside the store.
The incident rattled the community of Southaven, 15 minutes south of Memphis, Tennessee, and home to 55,000 people.
Carlos Odom, 35, typically comes to Walmart to visit his cousin, who works there. Odom was leaving around 6:30 a.m. when he heard more than a dozen shots. “I just hear gunshots,” he said. “Pow. Pow. Pow. Pow. Pow.”
“When the cops run into Walmart, you hear more gunshots. After that, it stopped.”