A customer who argued about wearing a face mask at a Georgia grocery store shot dead a cashier on Monday and injured a sheriff’s deputy who kept the store safe, law enforcement officials said.
The shooter was shot dead by the deputy, and both are expected to survive their injuries, according to law enforcement officials.
A suspect identified as Victor Lee Tucker Jr., 30, of Palmetto, Georgia, was arrested by DeKalb County Police Department officers “while trying to crawl out the front door of the supermarket,” a Georgia statement said Investigation Office.
The shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. in a Big Bear supermarket about 10 miles east of downtown Atlanta, officials said. At this point, Mr. Tucker checked out of the supermarket and got into an argument with a cashier about his face mask, the office said in its statement. Mr. Tucker left the store without buying his items, but returned immediately.
“Tucker went straight back to the register, pulled out a gun, and shot her,” the office said. Then he started shooting at the deputy, “who tried to intervene,” said the office.
Authorities identified the cashier on Tuesday as Laquitta Willis, 41. She was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and pronounced dead, officials said. Mr. Tucker was also taken there and was in stable condition.
DeKalb County Sheriff Melody M. Maddox identified the injured deputy as Danny Jordan. He was taken to the Atlanta Medical Center and listed in stable condition, officials said.
He was wearing a bulletproof vest and it most likely saved his life, Sheriff Maddox said at a news conference.
Deputy Jordan, 54, served with the DeKalb County Police Department from 1998 to March when he joined the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Unit, Sheriff Maddox said in a statement. The unit is not for profit and consists of retired law enforcement officers who provide support services to the sheriff’s office, the sheriff said.
A second cashier was “hit by a bullet” and treated for her injury, according to the local office.
A man who claimed to be Mr. Tucker’s father declined to speak over the phone as of Monday night.
The shooting turned into a pandemic for more than a year that killed nearly 600,000 people in the United States and caused health problems that crippled many businesses. For some, public health regulations sparked clamor that personal freedoms were being violated.
Forcing people to wear masks in public places sometimes became dangerous.
An Iowa man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacking and spat on another man last year when he argued about wearing his mask. An 80-year-old man died after being pushed to the ground by a bar customer friend whom he had asked to put on a mask.
And last June, Hugo’s Tacos in Los Angeles temporarily closed its two locations in the city because its employees were “exhausted from the constant conflicts over the refusal of guests to wear masks”.
Mask policy enforcement had become a new American pastime.
Even on commercial aircraft – where passengers have long been used to invasive security searches, rising baggage costs and overbooked flights – federal officials cited a “worrying increase” in unruly passengers after flight crews tried to enforce masks and other security regulations.
But that began to change as more people were vaccinated and warmer weather allowed for safer outdoor gatherings where transmissions were less likely.
