A gunman opened fire at a supermarket near Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday, 23 September, killing one person and injuring 12.
The police informed that the shooter later killed himself, while some people hid in store freezers, news agency AFP reported.
Police Chief Dale Lane said that one out of the 12 wounded was in surgery and another was in intensive care after the shooting in Collierville.
The shooting took place at Kroger grocery store in the town of Collierville, which is around 50 kms east of Memphis with a population of around 50,000 people.
Calling the gun violence "the most horrific event that has occurred in Collierville history". Lane said, "We found people hiding in freezers and in locked offices. They were doing what they had been trained to do - run, hide, fight”, AFP reported.
A Kroger employee, Brignetta Dickerson told WREG-TV, that once the shooting broke out, she instructed fellow employees and customers to follow her to the back of the store. The gunman however, followed them.
Noting that the shooter seemed to have a military-grade rifle, Dickerson was quoted as saying, "He kept on shooting and shooting and shooting. He shot one of my co-workers in the head and then shot one of the customers in the stomach.”
Lane added that there were 44 employees and an undetermined number of customers at the store when the shooting started.
The issue of gun violence has persisted in the United States, and remains to be a sensitive topic. While some support the relatively lax gun laws, others have advocated for more control and strict rules in selling of firearms.
(With inputs from AFP and WREG-TV)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)