Thomas and Sharon Brazil had been sitting of their automotive late Friday morning in entrance of the one grocery retailer in Fordyce, Ark., discussing what they needed to purchase to placed on the grill that night time. Then they seen a person with a gun approaching them.
He checked out them, Mr. Brazil stated, “and he shot.” Mr. Brazil, a 65-year-old minister, was shot within the brow above his proper eye. Ms. Brazil suffered cuts from damaged glass. They went to the hospital however each survived. They had been among the many fortunate ones.
All advised, the police stated that the gunman killed three individuals and injured 10 after he opened fireplace on the Mad Butcher grocery retailer. On Saturday, this city of three,400 individuals, about 70 miles south of Little Rock, was solely starting to soak up the impression of the bloodshed, as a number of particulars started to emerge.
“I simply don’t have the phrases,” stated Kasey Langley, whose daughter owns a flower store a number of doorways down from the Mad Butcher. “I awakened this morning considering it was all a dream. This didn’t occur, nevertheless it did.”
The authorities didn’t launch the names of those that died. However one of many victims was Shirley Kay Taylor, 63, in accordance with Angela Atchley, her daughter. Ms. Atchley stated her mom was killed standing on the checkout of the Mad Butcher, whereas she was doing her standard grocery buying.
Ms. Taylor, who beloved to prepare dinner and host small events, had requested Ms. Atchley’s son if he needed to affix her buying on Friday. He didn’t, and now, “he’s kicking himself,” Ms. Atchley stated. “He was like, ‘I might have shielded her or one thing.’ I stated, ‘Then, we’d be having two funerals.’”
Amongst these damage had been two regulation enforcement officers with non-life-threatening accidents, in accordance with the Arkansas State Police, together with the suspect, Travis Eugene Posey, 44, of New Edinburg, a group about 10 miles southeast of Fordyce.
Mr. Posey will likely be charged with three counts of capital homicide, the police stated, noting that extra expenses had been pending. An inmate registry for Ouachita County, which adjoins Dallas County, the place the capturing befell, confirmed that Mr. Posey was being held there on expenses of homicide and tried homicide.
Authorities haven’t launched any particulars on a potential motive behind the capturing, which seems to have occurred each inside the shop and within the car parking zone. The suspect used a shotgun, in accordance with a senior regulation enforcement official. It was unclear Saturday if there have been different weapons used and whether or not any weapons had been acquired illegally. It was additionally unknown if the suspect had any connection to the victims.
However “he was calm,” Mr. Brazil stated. “He was strolling and capturing.”
Mr. Posey, generally known as Joey, comes from a household that has lived within the space for generations. He labored within the lumber business, like his father, Travis Julian Posey, who was a Marine who fought in Vietnam and died in 2021. The suspect additionally labored within the trucking business — a truck along with his firm’s identify, Travis Posey Trucking, was nonetheless parked on his property on Saturday.
On the Mad Butcher, two crimson sheets of paper had been taped to the doorways, with a message in all caps: “TEMPORARILY CLOSED. PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR COMMUNITY.”
“Remarkable on this small city,” stated Ms. Langley, who stopped to take an image of a wreath close to the shop that had been offered by her daughter.
Different residents had been simply as rattled on Saturday. Some expressed aid that their family members had been spared.
Robin Roark, a pastor who can be working for the Arkansas Home of Representatives, stated that on Friday he acquired a textual content from his mom, who was parked in entrance of a pharmacy in the identical buying heart because the grocery retailer. She advised him that she thought there was a capturing taking place.
“I name my mom, and it rings and rings and rings, and nobody solutions,” Mr. Roark stated Saturday morning. “I known as three or 4 occasions earlier than she picked up. All I might hear had been gunshots — a relentless barrage of gunshots. I used to be like, ‘Mother, are you there?’”
Mr. Roark’s mom did finally choose up. She had been mendacity down on the ground of the automotive — and she or he was high quality.
Mr. Brazil stated that he knew he and his spouse had been lucky.
He stated a physician advised him that although he had shrapnel in his wound, all the things can be high quality. “Thank God that’s all it was — I might have misplaced my eye,” he stated, including that he was grateful that “I get an opportunity to play with my grandkids some extra.”
Ms. Taylor, one of many fatalities, had three kids, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, Ms. Atchley stated. “She was such a terrific lady,” she added. “She’d do something for her youngsters. Her household was all the things to her.”
Ms. Atchley recalled the final time she noticed her mom. It was Thursday, and Ms. Atchley, who lives in Camden, about 30 miles south of Fordyce, stopped by her mother’s home on the best way to Little Rock to provide her some cucumbers and tomatoes from her backyard.
“I advised her I beloved her,” she stated.
