A 23-year-old nurse, mother of a 10-month-old girl, was one of four people killed in Friday’s mass shooting at an Arkansas supermarket.
Callie Weems died when bullets and fragments from a suspect’s long gun struck 13 people, including two officers with non-life-threatening injuries, Friday morning at a Mad Butcher supermarket in Fordyce, a small town about 70 miles south of Little Rock.
Family members confirmed that the two other people killed in the mass shooting were Shirley Taylor, 63, and Roy Burton Sturgis, 50. Interviews and an obituary helped shed some light on the lives they lived.
On Saturday evening, Arkansas State Police said a fourth victim, Ellen Shrum, 81, has died. Her background was not immediately clear.
One of the four survivors of the attack who remained in hospital on Saturday evening was said to be in critical condition, police said. That patient, described as a female, was not identified.
Callie Weems
When Helen Browning heard news of the attack, she traced her daughter’s phone to the Dallas County Medical Center, where Weems worked, and assumed she had volunteered to help victims on her day off.
“She’s there,” Browning said to himself. “She helps.”
But people kept calling, so she went to the scene of the violence to investigate, Browning said in interviews with NBC News and NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock.
“My best friend was standing there and I said, ‘Kristie, tell me my baby is okay.’ And she said, ‘I can’t do it,'” Browning told the Arkansas station.
Weems was shopping at Mad Butcher when she was shot, family members said. The loss was incomprehensibly unfair, Browning said, because Weems created a lot of goodwill.
“You could stab her in the back seventeen times,” Browning said, “and she would still help you.”
Stepfather Bruce Grice described Weems as “the sweetest girl.”
“Always worried about other people,” he said.
Browning, also a nurse, is now struggling with how she will raise her granddaughter, Ivy, who she said was Weems’ “saving grace.”
“And now she’s going to be mine too,” Browning told KARK.
Shirley Taylor
Death and injury on Friday caused mental anguish and also caused some families to lose the souls who powered them every day. Shirley Taylor, 63, was described as a matriarch devoted to the multi-generational family compound in nearby Chambersville.
She single-handedly cared for her husband, who was described by daughter Angela Atchley as a severe diabetic. She took care of her own mother. She crocheted. She helped raise her grandchildren. She had a garden. And she often cooked for the family.
“Just the smell of food makes me sick,” Atchley said. “I haven’t eaten.”
When asked what the world should know about Taylor, Atchley said she had love for everyone but always put her family first.
“She was the most hardworking woman I ever knew in my life,” the daughter said.
Roy Burton Sturgis
The family confirmed that Sturgis was among Friday’s fatalities. His obituary, published by Benton Funeral Home, where a funeral was scheduled for Friday, said he was pronounced dead at Dallas County Medical Center.
He lived in nearby Kingsland, the obituary said, and daughter Hanna was his pride and joy.
In a virtual wall of tribute linked to the obituary, some friends of the Sturgis family, including his parents, described him as a man of courage, courage and sacrifice.
Family friend Marsha Helberg Waddill described Sturgis as an everyday hero. He was “always courteous and brave enough to speak out against any playground bully who crossed his or your path,” she wrote.
He is survived by his daughter, sisters Angelia Surgis and Sarah Sturgis, brother Eddie Ray Sturgis, stepson Braydon Pennington and Braydon’s daughter, CourtLeigh, according to the obituary.
No known motive
The motive for the shooting Friday morning, which appears to have started in the parking lot, remains unclear. Law enforcement officials briefed on the shooting told NBC News on Saturday that there is no evidence of any form of extremism as a possible motive.
Travis Eugene Posey, 44, of New Edinburg, a community about 11 miles east of Fordyce, was arrested in connection with the shooting and booked into the Ouachita County Detention Center. He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries earlier Friday after exchanging gunfire with officers.
Posey will be charged with four counts of capital murder and additional charges are pending, the Arkansas Department of Public Safety said in a news release.
Not much is known about the suspect’s background, and calls to people listed online as possible relatives, as well as phone numbers associated with his address, went unanswered, went to disconnected accounts or were not returned.
The suspect is listed by the United States Department of Transportation as a self-employed truck driver.
A video verified by NBC News, but not revealing what happened before, shows a man in a parking lot firing a long gun. Some rounds appeared to be aimed at vehicles.
Supermarket closed for the time being
The supermarket said in a statement on Saturday that it was “shocked and deeply saddened by the senseless act of violence.”
“Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families and all those affected,” the store wrote on Facebook. “We are extremely grateful to our local law enforcement and first responders who responded to the scene to secure the area and arrest the suspect. Their quick and courageous actions helped prevent further damage. We cannot thank them enough for their dedication and service.”
The store will remain closed while the investigation continues, Mad Butcher said. The employees will continue to receive their wages.
The attack follows a mass shooting in Oakland, California, that injured 15 people during Juneteenth events on Wednesday. That same day, seven people were injured after a shooting in Philadelphia, officials said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
