US mass shootings: An Indian national, hailing from the state of Andhra Pradesh, was among the four persons killed in a shooting incident at a grocery store in Arkansas, US. The victim of identified as Dasari Gopikrishna, a native of Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh who went to the US only eight months ago.
Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed grief after learning of Gopikrishna's death in the United States. "Deeply saddened to learn that a young Dasari Gopikrishna from Bapatla has succumbed to injuries sustained in a shooting incident in Texas, USA. I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family and assure them that the GoAP will extend every possible support to help bring him home. We firmly stand by the family and pray for them to find strength through this difficult time," he said.
A fourth victim had died on Saturday a day after a shooter opened fire at an Arkansas grocery store, wounding nine others and riddling cars with bullet holes as panicked bystanders ran for cover. Police said the suspect is Travis Eugene Posey, 44, of New Edinburg, who was injured after a shootout with police and was treated for non-threatening injuries. He will be charged with four counts of capital murder, police added.
Who was Dasari Gopalakrishna?
Gopikrishna, 32, was working at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, a small town in Arkansas, where the gunman opened fire on Friday. He sustained critical injuries and succumbed at a hospital the next day. His family lives in the Yajali area in the Karlapalem district of Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh. He is survived by a wife and a son.
CCTV footage of the incident showed the gunman entering the store and opening fire on Gopikrishna, who was standing at the counter. His death was met with shock by former Andhra CM and YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, who appealed to the state government and the Centre to assist Gopikrishna's family and expressed his condolences
Arkansas grocery store shooting
All of the deceased victims in the shooting were civilians, while 10, including two law enforcement officers, were injured. The shooting took place around 11:30 am on Friday. Roderick Rogers, a member of the city council, said he called the sheriff when employees at his restaurant nearby notified him of the shooting. When he got there, he saw people running for cover in every direction, even one running to the hospital nearby.
“It's tragic, our hearts are broken,” Col. Mike Hagar, director of State Police and public safety secretary, told reporters on Friday. Video posted on social media showed at least one person lying in the parking lot, while another captured multiple gunshots ringing out. Images showed a slew of bullet holes in the store's window, and spent shell casings strewn throughout the parking lot.
It was the latest mass shooting with a grocery store as its backdrop. In 2022 a white supremacist killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. That came a little more than a year after 10 people were fatally shot at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.
Notably, there has been a sharp spike in shooting incidents in the past few weeks. At least 21 other mass shootings were recorded by the Gun Violence Archive since last Friday. On Saturday (June 22), one person was killed while seven others were injured in a shooting outside the H20 Lounge nightclub in Louisville, Kentucky.
(with inputs from agencies)
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