Walmart shooting suspect at distribution center was fired
REDDING, Calif. – At least two people are dead, including the shooter, and four have been injured after a shooting at a northern California Walmart distribution center, authorities confirmed Saturday.
The victim killed – an employee at the facility – has been identified as Martin Haro-Lozano, 45, of Orland, California.
Allison Hendrickson, a spokeswoman for Dignity Health North State, said four patients were in fair condition at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff, California, and two had died. She wasn’t immediately sure whether there were other victims at another hospital.
Tehama County sheriff’s officials said early Sunday that the shooter had been fired from the center last year.
Louis Lane, 31, of Redding was fired from the distribution center in February 2019 because he did not show up for work, sheriff’s officials said.
Lane showed up at the distribution center at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday and crashed his sport-utility vehicle into the employee entrance to the building, officials said. After the SUV caught fire, Lane got out and opened fire inside the building.
Red Bluff police were the first to arrive, and they exchanged gunfire with Lane in the facility’s parking lot. Lane was shooting a semiautomatic rifle, officials said. The second officer on the scene seriously wounded Lane. Lane was taken to a hospital, where he died, officials said.
Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said the rifle’s magazine was illegal in California because it held more than 10 rounds.
Johnston said deputies have determined the shooter circled the parking lot four times before crashing into the building and opening fire with a semiautomatic long gun.
Johnston said later in the evening that the suspect and one victim, an employee, were dead.
At least one person was struck by the Lane’s car, Johnston said. He said the shooter was able to enter the facility, where he shot at random. Johnston couldn’t provide details on when and where during the attack that people were injured.
Chief Kyle Sanders said the officers fired after Lane first fired at them “multiple times.” The two officers who fired the shots are on paid administrative leave pending a routine investigation into the shooting of the suspect, Sanders said.
Scott Thammakhanty, an employee at the facility’s receiving center who unloads trucks, said he heard the shooter fire from what he judged to be a semiautomatic weapon.
“It went on and on — I don’t even know how many times he fired,” Thammakhanty said. “I just know it was a lot.”
Thammakhanty and others ran for their lives, and he saw people on the ground as he went, he said.
The shooter looked familiar to Thammakhanty, but he didn’t know his identity.
Vince Krick was waiting outside because
his wife and son work at the facility. They weren’t hurt, but Krick was anxiously waiting to be reunited with them.
“It was real crazy, because, you know, you can’t do nothing,” Krick said.
Krick was on the way to pick up his wife when he saw the flames, he said. His wife texted that she was OK, but told him not to come to the front entrance.
The shooting happened right as a new group of workers were beginning their shift, he said.
Krick’s wife, a manager, was able to get some employees out the back of the building, he said.
Deputies said a fire had started by the time the shooter was detained, and they couldn’t get into the building because of the blaze.
In an email, Walmart director of national media relations Scott Pope said the company was “aware of the situation” and working with law enforcement to investigate.
“We don’t have any additional information to share at this time,” Pope wrote.
Red Bluff is about 130 miles north of Sacramento.