Garry Kemop <
now...@protonmail.com> wrote in
news:u5to87$1lauf$
2...@dont-email.me:
> They were all Biden voters, no loss.
A gunman opened fire Monday evening inside a Walmart in Ohio and wounded
four people before killing himself -- the second shooting in 24 hours to
take place at a store operated by the retail giant.
The attack at the Walmart in Beavercreek, a suburb of Dayton, just days
before Thanksgiving injured four shoppers: three women and a man. Police
said three were in stable condition and one of the women in critical but
stable condition on Tuesday afternoon at area hospitals.
Authorities declined to release the identities of the victims, including
their races, saying they had not ruled out that the attack was racially
motivated.
“Tragedy struck our beloved community Monday evening, and, in the face of
adversity, the strength of our community shines through,” Beavercreek
Mayor Bob Stone said during a Tuesday news conference.
Walmart said it was working closely with investigators to try to determine
why the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones, of
Dayton, opened fire.
Police said Jones entered the store at about 8:30 p.m. Monday wielding a
Hi-Point 45-caliber Carbine long gun. He shot an undetermined number of
rounds, leaving injured victims throughout the building, before turning
the weapon on himself, authorities said.
Efforts made by The Associated Press to reach relatives of Jones were
unsuccessful.
“We’re heartbroken by what’s happened at our Beavercreek, Ohio store. This
remains a developing situation, and we’re working closely with
investigators on the scene,” Walmart said in a statement.
Christopher Suffron told WHIO-TV in Dayton that he was shopping with his
wife when they heard five or six shots ring out. “I turned around and told
her to get behind me,” he said.
Suffron said he then saw the shooter about 10 feet away and the couple ran
out of the store through nearby receiving doors. As they escaped, he said
he heard another five or six shots.
The shooting happened almost exactly one day after a man shot and killed a
woman before fatally shooting himself outside a Walmart in Anchorage,
Alaska. Police in Anchorage said Tuesday it was a domestic-violence
related crime. They said in a statement no one else was involved.
Both shootings came nearly a year after a Walmart supervisor in
Chesapeake, Virginia, fatally shot six employees two days before
Thanksgiving.
Walmart, which has police outposts in some of its 4,600 locations
nationwide, has taken steps over the years to address gun violence. The
retailer based in Bentonville, Arkansas, launched a computer-based active
shooter training in 2015 that focused on three pillars: avoid the danger,
keep your distance and lastly, defend.
Then in 2019, after a white gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El
Paso, Texas, in a racist attack that targeted Hispanic shoppers, Walmart
discontinued sales of certain kinds of ammunition. It also asked that
customers no longer openly carry firearms in its stores. The retailer now
sells only hunting rifles and related ammunition.
“We take a comprehensive approach to promoting a safe shopping and work
environment—including policies, training, monitoring, and response—as well
as regular reviews of security protocols and practices,” Joe Pennington, a
company spokesperson, said in a statement. “While we don’t publicly
discuss security measures we take in our stores, the safety of our
associates and customers is a top priority.”
The store in Ohio where Monday’s shooting took place was the scene of a
fatal shooting involving police almost 10 years ago. A white police
officer shot 22-year-old John Crawford III after he picked up an
unpackaged pellet rifle he found on a shelf in August 2014. The family of
the Black man reached a settlement of $1.7 million with the city of
Beavercreek. The settlement included changes in police policy.
Beavercreek Mayor Stone said Monday’s shooting brought the earlier case to
mind.
“It can’t help but bring back memories,” he said. “You know, it’s a
tragedy all in itself, though, and this is the tragedy we are grieving
for, and it’s a shame in this way that it has to be compared to the
previous shooting.”
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-walmart-shooter-police-
b68827491ab062403e5505a134ca70ce