An argument over a mask at a Georgia supermarket Monday ended with a suspect opening fire inside the shop, killing a cashier and wounding a sheriff’s deputy, authorities said.
The suspect, Victor Lee Tucker, 30, will likely face murder charges, DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox told reporters.
The officer and cashier were not immediately identified. A second grocery store employee who was grazed by a bullet also was not identified.
The shooting occurred at the Big Bear Supermarket in DeKalb County, southeast of Atlanta, around 1 p.m., the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Tucker was checking out when the argument occurred, the statement said. He left without making his purchase, then immediately returned with a handgun and allegedly shot the cashier, the agency said.
She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The deputy, a 30-year veteran of the DeKalb County Police Department and a reserve officer with sheriff’s office who was working at the supermarket, then fired at Tucker, Maddox said.
Tucker allegedly returned fire, striking the deputy twice, Maddox said. The officer was in stable condition at a local hospital.
Two responding officers arrested Tucker while attempting to crawl out of the supermarket’s front door, the agency said.
He was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition.
Tim Stelloh is a reporter for NBC News based in California.
