Callie Weems was reveling in her new position as a mother within the months earlier than a gunman in Arkansas fatally shot her at a grocery retailer.
Her daughter Ivy, now 10 months outdated, was a continuing supply of leisure and surprise, Weems’ mom, Helen Browning, 53, mentioned in a cellphone interview on Sunday as she shared reminiscences of her daughter. Weems, 23, was amongst 4 folks fatally wounded and one other 11 injured — together with the alleged gunman — within the taking pictures on the Mad Butcher retailer in Fordyce, Arkansas, Friday, based on authorities. Simply an hour earlier than, Weems was marveling that her little woman had let her sleep in till 9 a.m. that morning.
“’I wager you are feeling like a brand new mother,’” Browning recalled texting again.
It was the final dialog they’d earlier than police say 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey of New Edinburg opened fireplace on the retailer, riddling automobiles with bullet holes as panicked bystanders ducked and scrambled for canopy amid a barrage of gunfire. Weems, a nurse, died serving to one other gunshot sufferer, Arkansas State Police Director Mike Hagar mentioned Sunday.
“As an alternative of fleeing the shop, she stopped to render support in some of the selfless acts I’ve ever seen,” he mentioned at a information convention.
In all, state police mentioned 15 folks had been shot Friday, together with 12 civilians, two legislation enforcement officers and Posey.
It was at the least the third mass taking pictures at a U.S. grocery within the final three years. In 2022, a white supremacist killed 10 Black folks at a Buffalo grocery store. That got here just a little greater than a 12 months after 10 folks had been fatally shot at grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.
Police mentioned Sunday that Posey’s motive was nonetheless unclear, however he appeared to haven’t any private connection to any of the victims.
He carried a 12-gauge shotgun, a pistol and a bandolier with dozens of additional shotgun rounds, authorities mentioned. He fired most, if not all, of the rounds utilizing the shotgun, opening fireplace at folks within the parking zone earlier than getting into the shop and firing “indiscriminately” at clients and workers, Hagar mentioned.
Fordyce police and Dallas County sheriff’s deputies arrived inside minutes, and Posey exited the shop and exchanged gunfire with them earlier than they shot him and took him into custody.
For Browning, the tragedy was amplified by her connection to a different sufferer, Roy Sturgis, 50, who was additionally shot and killed. She mentioned Sturgis was a part of her prolonged household, a logger and a loving father to his daughter.
“Roy was as nation as cornbread,” she mentioned. “He lived a easy life. He was a easy man.”
The opposite victims who died had been recognized as Shirley Taylor, 62, and Ellen Shrum, 81.
Taylor took care of her husband, who had diabetes, and crocheted, her daughter, Angela Atchley, informed KTHV in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“She was our household rock,” Atchley mentioned.
Fordyce, a metropolis of about 3,200 folks positioned 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of Little Rock, was reeling from the taking pictures, metropolis council member Roderick Rogers mentioned Sunday.
He went to the grocery retailer on Friday after folks there known as for his assist.
“It was like a battle zone,” Rogers mentioned, describing the gunman taking pictures “like loopy” within the parking zone.
Residents within the tight-knit group anxious about victims who had been nonetheless within the hospital and even about the opportunity of one other taking pictures, he mentioned.
“Lots of people are frightened,” he mentioned. “They need to really feel secure proper now.”
Hagar mentioned the officers and deputies who responded to the scene knew the shooter and the victims, making the assault significantly troublesome and private.
The wounded vary in age from 20 to 65, police mentioned. 5 had been nonetheless hospitalized, together with a girl in essential situation.
Police mentioned Posey, who was in custody on the Ouachita County Detention Heart, can be charged with 4 counts of capital homicide.
A state police spokesperson mentioned Sunday she believed Posey had an legal professional, however she didn’t know the particular person’s identify.
Browning mentioned Posey went to high school together with her youngest sister, and he or she by no means would have thought he may do one thing so violent.
She plans to lift Ivy now.
“She is going to know that her mom beloved her,” she mentioned. “And that she was the sunshine of momma’s eyes.”