Elkhart Shooting: Gunman Kills Two Woman, Was It Random?

In an Elkhart shooting on Wednesday, a lone gunman entered Martin’s a grocery store in Indiana and shot two women. The Elkhart police received a call at around 10 p.m.on Wednesday informing them that there was active shooter on the premises at Martin’s.

According to the police report, the suspect, a man in his 20’s, walked into the store brandishing a semi-automatic weapon. He approached one woman and shot her, then calmly walked to another aisle and shot a second woman.

One of the victims, an employee at the store, was in her early 20’s and the other victim of the Elkhart shooting was a 40-year-old customer. When police arrived, the gunman was pointing his weapon at a third woman.

Indiana State Police Sgt.Trent Smith said the police shot the gunman, who they believed was about to shoot again: “That’s today’s society, unfortunately,” Smith said, “We live in that world. There is not a day that goes by it seems anymore that we aren’t learning about a school shooting or at a business. We hope this would never come to our hometown, and here it is.”

Police noted that they found a large caliber weapon and a large knife near the shooter, as well as several rounds of spent ammunition. Smith said that the police believe the shootings were random: “At this time, it appears that it’s just random. We do have a lot of things to look at as far as video surveillance,” he said.

The grocery store where the Elkhart shooting took place, released the following statement on their Facebook page: “Thank you to our community for your thoughts and prayers tonight. We will comment further when we can do so responsibly and appropriately.”

It remains to be seen what led the gunman to enter Martin’s grocery store and carry out the Elkhart shooting, as a police investigation into the incident gets underway.