On Thursday, an unidentified man opens fire at a Kroger supermarket in Collierville, Tennessee. He has been identified as a 29-year old store vendor. One person was killed by the shooter on Thursday afternoon while the shooter reportedly died after he shot himself, as per the police report. Olivia King has been identified as the woman who was killed and died as a result of injuries. She was 70 years old and has three sons. The supermarket said that she was a customer.
On Friday, Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane addresses reporters and told them that 14 others were wounded in the mass shooting, of which 10 were employees and four were customers. He also said that some of them were in a critical condition
He lauded all the first responders for their service. He also said that the shooter took his life quickly after officers responded to his attacks. He said that the investigation was ongoing and although they were “getting a clearer picture” of what had happened, he was not ready to release any more information at that time.
The Police Chief was not ready to identify the gunman but police later said that he was a 29-year old man named UK Thang. He had a few misdemeanors but had no history of violence. Lane also said that he didn’t know if Thang had been fired from his job. Witnesses reportedly said that he was a sushi chef at the store and was reportedly fired from the supermarket, earlier on Thursday.
Lane also praised people who ran and hid away from the shooter and noted that there were many things that went well, which “prevented additional loss of lives.” Some of them sought refuge in freezers, in offices, in back rooms, between grocery pallets, on the store roof and other locations around the store.
On Friday night, police said that they had cleared the scene at Kroger’s and they would continue to assist the retailer until it finished its internal investigation and prepared to reopen the store.