A shooting inside a Kroger grocery store in the Houston area left two people critically wounded on Wednesday afternoon, prompting a large police response and forcing the store to close its doors for hours. According to authorities at the scene, the gunfire erupted inside the store in North Harris County, along Cypress Wood Drive near FM 1960 in the Fairfield area, at a time when shoppers were inside picking up groceries in the middle of the day.
Sheriff's deputies said the first sign of trouble came in a flurry of emergency calls. According to a deputy who briefed reporters at the scene, officers received multiple calls reporting a discharge of firearms, a weapons disturbance and someone being shot, and units arrived quickly. Officers first encountered one of the subjects walking out of the store with injuries and had him transported to hospital, before locating an additional man inside the Kroger with multiple gunshot wounds.
Both of the people who were shot were left in critical condition, the authorities said. One of them had at least one gunshot wound, while the other had several wounds throughout his body, and at least one of the injured was being flown to a hospital by medical helicopter. Deputies said that, as of their briefing, the only victims they could confirm were the two men with gunshot wounds, and that they were still working to establish the full picture.
A possible suspect was detained, and investigators said they believed they had all of the parties involved in the incident, with no outstanding individual being sought. Witnesses reported that a man wearing a yellow shirt and black pants had been seen firing a weapon inside the store, according to authorities, who cautioned that they were not yet prepared to say which of the men had first been in possession of the gun as that remained part of the investigation.
The cause of the shooting was still being determined. Asked whether the violence might have stemmed from a domestic dispute, a deputy said he could not confirm that but described it as a possibility that would be examined as the inquiry progressed. Officers said they still had a large amount of surveillance video from inside the store to review, noting that the Kroger was well covered by cameras that they expected would help detectives piece together exactly what had unfolded.
Authorities said that, so far, it appeared no bystanders had been hurt in the shooting, with the two men in critical condition being the only known casualties. The store itself was cordoned off with police tape and was expected to remain shut for several hours, possibly for the rest of the day, as multiple agencies, including the county sheriff's office and state public safety officers, worked to clear the building aisle by aisle and make sure no one else was injured inside.
Deputies urged members of the public to stay away from the area and the parking lot while the investigation continued, and asked anyone who had seen something or had information to come forward, either by calling emergency services or the local dispatch line. According to accounts gathered at the scene, many of those caught up in the episode had simply stopped at the store after work to pick up groceries or medication when the gunfire broke out, turning an ordinary errand into a frightening ordeal.