Shootings a day apart rock Okla., Calif.
Assailant among three killed outside Walmart
DUNCAN, Okla. — Two men and a woman were fatally shot Monday morning outside a Walmart store in southwestern Oklahoma, and the shooter is among the dead, authorities said.
Two victims were shot inside a car and the third died in the parking lot just before 10 a.m. outside the store in Duncan, Police Chief Danny Ford said.
Authorities did not immediately describe a motivation for the shooting. Ford told the Associated Press that investigators believe the gunman shot the male and female victims and then turned the gun on himself.
Stephens County District Attorney Jason Hicks authorities said during the news conference Monday afternoon that there was never an active shooter inside the store and he described the shooting as an isolated incident. He did not further explain.
Hicks said the two victims had been inside the Walmart Money Center before they were killed but that the shooter did not enter the business.
Police said in a Facebook post that a handgun was found at the scene. At the news conference, Ford described the gun as semi-automatic but said he had no further details. He said the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was still processing the scene.
Ford said he believed nine shots were fired.
Authorities have not released the identities of those killed but did confirm the shooter was among the dead. Ford said all three knew each other but declined to describe their relationships or other identifying information pending notification of immediate family.
He said all three were dead when police arrived just minutes after the shooting.
Walmart spokeswoman LeMia Jenkins initially said no staff were involved. Jenkins later released a statement offering thoughts and prayers for the family of the woman killed in the shooting, who she said had been with the company for less than two months. Jenkins said the woman was at the Walmart during her free time and wasn’t scheduled to work that day.
Duncan is about 80 miles south of Oklahoma City. The Walmart is in a commercial center that includes a sporting goods store and a dollar store along U.S. 81, the main road that passes through Duncan heading south toward Texas.
It was at least the third shooting at a Walmart in the U.S. this year. A Walmart store in El Paso reopened Thursday after being closed since August, when a gunman opened fire in the busy store, killing 22. Just days before, two Walmart employees in Mississippi were killed by a man authorities described as a disgruntled Walmart worker.