A dispute over wearing face masks led to a grocery store clerk being fatally shot, according to authorities.
The incident took place around 1:10 p.m. on Monday inside the Big Bear Supermarket at South DeKalb Mall in Decatur, Georgia. The DeKalb County Sheriff, Melody Maddox, said several people were in the store when a man opened fire on a female cashier.
“There was some confrontation, argument — I’m not sure exactly what — in reference to the wearing of masks, at which time the subject pulled out a weapon and shot the cashier,” said Maddox at a news conference.
A reserve deputy, who is a part-time security employee at the store, then shot the suspect. Both the suspect and deputy were wounded.
The Associated Press reports the deputy is part of a reserve unit group that doesn’t actively work for a specific agency, but the person is still a certified law enforcement officer. Later reports identified him as a 30-year veteran of the DeKalb County Police Department.
Maddox praised his actions.
“That is what he is trained to do,” Maddox said.
She went on to say the deputy was hit twice but that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He’s reportedly in stable condition.
As for the suspect, he was also hit twice and taken to a hospital. He’s since been identified as 30-year-old Victor Lee Tucker Jr.
An investigation of the shooting is being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. That investigation has reported that Tucker left the store without making a purchase, but then immediately returned inside where he pulled out his weapon and fired on the cashier.
Another cashier was reportedly grazed by a bullet but was treated at the scene.
A witness says Tucker entered the store, hit the cashier with a gun, and then shot her. At that point, he and the deputy exchanged fire.
Tucker was arrested by responding officers, with the GBI saying he was found crawling out the front door.
