LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11)– After speaking with several witnesses, our sister station, WHAS11, is getting a picture of what happened inside a Jeffersontown Kroger when a shooter opened fire.
Jeffersontown Mayor Bill Dieruf confirmed the shooter is in custody and the situation is under control. Police continue to investigate, and the scene is still active.
Investigation underway after shooting at Hurstbourne Parkway, Taylorsville Road
Though details of what led to the shooting are not yet clear, witness accounts give a glimpse of what happened during those chaotic moments.
Evette Clemons told our sister station she rushed to the store after receiving a hysterical call from a friend. When Clemons pulled up to the store, she saw her friend's husband lying on the ground. She found her friend and learned more details of what happened.
“Her husband shot back once the shooter had shot at them,” Clemons said.
Eric Deacon, an off-duty EMT for a security company, had just finished shopping when he heard a loud bang. He said he saw the shooter and another man chasing after him with a gun exit the store and fire at each other in the parking lot. At some point, Deacon saw a woman go down and said "it was pretty obvious she had been hit." When he believed it was safe, he attempted to render aid but said it was clear that she was already deceased.
"You just don't expect to come to the grocery and see something like that. You know?" Deacon said.
Judy Wheat said she was shopping in the cracker aisle when she heard loud noises and people screaming. “Shoppers didn’t know what to do. So, we went towards the back of the store and we were told to get in the back,” Wheat said.
Kelly Reynolds was picking up groceries for dinner with her children when she heard screaming. “A lady was screaming. I thought she had won the lottery. Even one of the workers looked at me and said, ‘I hope that’s a good scream,’” Reynolds said.
Steve Zinninger spoke to WHAS11 after a phone call with his mother who was inside the store when the shooting happened. Zinninger’s father was outside waiting while she shopped and saw the shooter exit the store. “My dad did not realize that he was the shooter at first because of the way he was casually walking. He had his gun down by his side with it cocked. And by the time he was up on my dad, my dad was already out of the car and had his gun cocked by his leg. And the guy said ‘Please don’t shoot. Please don’t shoot, and I won’t shoot you,’” Zinninger said.
Another witness told WHAS11 a woman ran out of the Kroger's Click-list doors yelling for others not to enter the store. The witness, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she could see people running out of the store's main doors as well, those people were yelling shooter shots fired. That is when this witness said she ran with her kids to their car and then heard more shots being fired.
A Kroger employee told our partners at Louisville Business First she saw a woman shot in the parking lot, first in the torso, then in the head.
