A man caused panic inside a Missouri Walmart on Thursday after entering the store wearing body armor and carrying a rifle just days after the mass shooting in an El Paso location that killed 22, CNN reported.
The unnamed man was detained on scene by an off-duty firefighter until police arrived and took him into custody.
RELATED STORIES
Early Thursday evening, a man in his 20s entered the Walmart Neighborhood Market in Springfield, Missouri.
Dressed in body armor and carrying loaded weapons, the man reportedly casually walked around the store pushing a grocery cart and recorded himself with a cell phone.
It’s unclear what exactly the man was armed with, though some reports claim he was carrying a “tactical rifle,” another gun, and had more than 100 rounds of ammunition on his person.
When a store manager spotted the armed man, they pulled the fire alarm, alerting customers to escape the building.
Upon hearing the alarm, the man made his way out of an emergency exit with the rest of the shoppers. An off-duty firefighter then managed to detain the man until police officers arrive, Springfield Police confirmed in a Facebook post regarding the event.
Springfield Police Lieutenant Mike Lucas said no shots were fired inside the location and no one was injured.
“His intent was not to cause peace or comfort to anybody that was in the business,” Lucas said. “In fact, he’s lucky to be alive still to be honest.”
He added that the recent spike in mass shootings in public places have put customers on high alert, leading them to cal police to report active shooters.
Lucas said that police are still investigating the incident and have not yet determined the man’s motives.
“All we know is the fact that he walked in here heavily armed with body armor on, in military fatigues and caused a great amount of panic inside the store,” he said. “So he certainly had the capability, the potential to harm people.”
Police are asking that anyone who was present for the event and has not yet spoken to an officer to contact the Springfield Police Department to file a report and provide investigators with further information.
This incident comes just days after the weekend shootings inside an El Paso Walmart and in Dayton, Ohio.
In El Paso, an armed man entered the packed Walmart on Saturday and began firing at the customers, killing 22 people .
After discovering an anti-immigrant manifesto believed to have been written by the 21-year-old gunman, police are now treating the shooting as a case of domestic terrorism.
On Sunday, a shooter opened fire on a busy street in Dayton, killing nine people before police were able to “neutralize” him.
Among the nine killed included the man’s own sister. Another 37 people were injured. Dressed in body armor and carrying a high-capacity rifle, the 24-year-old shooter fired 41 shots in just 30 seconds before police shot and killed him.
h/t: CNN
