A Shooting at Kroger Left One Person Dead and 14 People Injured

One person was killed and 14 people were wounded at a shooting at Kroger in Collierville, Tenn. Thursday, from a gunman identified as UK Thang, 29, a third-party vendor to Kroger, who also took his own life.

Olivia King, a Kroger customer and widowed mother of three, was named as the only victim killed in the shooting. King was one of eight victims hospitalized at Regional One Health Medical Center in Memphis. There were two victims discharged and six remain hospitalized Friday.

The family of King released a statement.

“Our family is devastated by this senseless act of violence,” the statement said. “We also ask everyone for their prayers for all families and friends affected.”

Video Jason Lusk posted a video to social media that showed people in the Kroger parking lot fleeing while a gunshot is heard.

“Shooter at the Kroger in Collierville,” Lusk said, on his post.

People inside Kroger at 240 New Byhalaia Road when the shooting happened sheltered inside freezers, closets and between pallets of grocery product. Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane recalled how they found people inside the store.

“As we entered that building, it was very obvious that the employees and even the customers knew what to do,” Lane said. “It was Run, Hide, Fight. They secured themselves.”

Another video Lusk posted to social media shows how first responders surrounded the grocery store and communicated with a witness who was on the roof. The witness was holding his hands up and shouting.

“You got the wrong man,” a person in the video said.

“This is gonna be one of those, where were you when events,” Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner said. “People will reflect back. Where were you the day the Kroger shooting happened?”

Officers conducted a search warrant of Thang’s apartment #102 at 885 Federal Ridge Rd. Collierville, TN. Thursday evening, they confiscated evidence, electronics and detained one person for questioning, who was released and there is no additional interest in that person.

Lane did not release the gunman’s name in front of cameras, but did get his name to the press behind the camera.

“I’m not going to give you his name today,” Lane said. “I’m not giving him notoriety in this platform.”

First responders to the Kroger shooting included firefighters, and some of them used combat gear for protection as they sought wounded people.

“I’ve been doing this 35 years,” Lane said. “This is the first time in my career that I had seen firemen wearing ballistic helmets and vests.”

The firefighters that first entered Kroger did not stall getting into the store to help people and Collierville Fire Chief Buddy Billings recalled the looks on first responders’ faces.

“I’ve been in the fire service 44 years, and I’ve never been so proud of a group of people in my life,” Billings said. “Looking in their faces yesterday, there was no hesitation to do or go anywhere to help their fellow man.”

Chief Lane also encouraged the community to move forward and not to let the shooting hold them back from living their normal routine.

“Don’t live in a state of fear,” Lane said. “Be alert, be vigilant.”

Hospitals mobilized helicopters and enacted mass casualty plans and procedures when they responded to the shooting.

“The hospital dispatched five helicopters to the scene,” Regional One Health Chief Medical Officer Peter Fischer said. “Another three helicopters from other agencies were also dispatched to the scene.”

The last mass casualty event Reginal One Health Medical Center had was two years ago. Mass casualty events in hospitals are planned for, but when the actual event occurred Thursday Fischer said even that moment was a learning experience.

“It’s never good to stress the system, but you need to stress it to know where your weaknesses are,” Fischer said. “One of the things we saw yesterday; How do we contact air traffic control when we have eight helicopters all heading to the same scene?”

Off-duty hospital staff were called in to assist with the mid-day response.

“There were a good number of staff already present for just our day-to-day management of the trauma center and trauma patients,” Chief Medical Officer Martin Croce said. “But we did have some extra staff come in.”

Tennessee had hospital bed shortages as a result of COVID that impacted all hospitals, but Croce said Regional One Health Medical Center was able to take on trauma patients from the shooting because of agreements they have with other hospitals.

“The other hospitals try to take more of the COVID patients so that we can continue to focus on taking care of the trauma, burn, high-risk OB (Obstetrics) and newborn center patients,” Croce said. “It emphasizes cooperation with all our hospital partners.”

Regional One Health Medical Center has received many trauma victims before, many of whom were gunshot victims.

“It’s not atypical for us to have eight patients come in with gunshot wounds at any given time,” Croce said. “Usually not all at once, so, that’s the difference in this situation.”