Grocery Store Shooting That Killed 4 Leaves an Arkansas Town in Disbelief
The New York Times
The small town of Fordyce, Ark., was beginning to absorb the impact of the bloodshed, as a few details began to emerge. A fourth victim died on Saturday.
Thomas and Sharon Brazil were sitting in their car late Friday morning in front of the only grocery store in Fordyce, Ark., discussing what they wanted to buy to put on the grill that night. Then they noticed a man with a gun approaching them.
He looked at them, Mr. Brazil said, “and he shot.” Mr. Brazil, a 65-year-old minister, was shot in the forehead above his right eye. Ms. Brazil suffered cuts from broken glass. They went to the hospital but both survived. They were among the lucky ones.
All told, the police said that the gunman killed four people and injured nine after he opened fire at the Mad Butcher grocery store. On Saturday, this town of 3,400 people, about 70 miles south of Little Rock, was only beginning to absorb the impact of the bloodshed, as a few details began to emerge, including a fourth victim who died in the evening.
“I just don’t have the words,” said Kasey Langley, whose daughter owns a flower shop a few doors down from the Mad Butcher. “I woke up this morning thinking it was all a dream. This didn’t happen, but it did.”
Late Saturday, the Arkansas State Police identified those killed as Shirley Taylor, 62; Callie Weems, 23; Roy Sturgis, 50; and Ellen Shrum, 81.
Ms. Taylor’s daughter, Angela Atchley, said her mother was killed standing at the checkout of the Mad Butcher, while she was doing her usual grocery shopping.
