(ProsperNews.net) – Arkansas police confirmed that a fourth person has died after a mass shooting at a grocery store on June 21. More than a dozen people were shot during the incident at a Mad Butcher outlet in Fordyce when 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey entered the store and opened fire. Arkansas State Police have identified the dead as 62-year-old Shirley Taylor, 23-year-old Callie Weems, 50-year-old Roy Sturgis, and 81-year-old Ellen Shrum.
Four people who were injured in the incident remain hospitalized, and the alleged killer, Posey, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Officials say the incident remains under investigation.
Among the victims was new mom Callie Weems, a nurse who died while she tended to another person’s wounds. Weems was the mother to a 10-month-old girl, and her mom told reporters that she loved her new life with her daughter and was very happy.
Weems’ mother, Helen Browning, was also friends with a second victim, Roy Sturgis, whom she described as extended family. “Roy was as country as cornbread,” she said. Friends described Shirley Taylor as a crochet enthusiast who cared for her husband and was her family’s “rock.”
Fordyce is a town of around 3,200 residents, just over 60 miles from Little Rock. City council member Roderick Rogers said the horrific shooting had turned the town into a “war zone,” and residents are shaken and frightened.
Travis Eugene Posey appeared in court on June 25, charged with four counts of capital murder and ten counts of attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty on all counts. Police said he had no connection to any of the victims, and there is no known motive for the killings.
Officials explained that Posey allegedly entered the store with a 12-gauge shotgun, a pistol, and dozens of extra gunshot rounds. He shot people in the parking lot before entering the store and firing indiscriminately at staff members and customers. His only criminal history is an illegal weapons possession charge in New York in 2011.
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