Memphis-area Kroger mass shooting that left 1 victim dead, 12 wounded, is becoming more common

A gunman killed one person and wounded at least 12 more at a grocery store in Collierville, Tennessee, on Thursday afternoon, before apparently killing himself, police said. The injuries inflicted on some of the victims are "very serious," officials said. When a tactical team arrived shorting after the shooting began, "we found people hiding in freezers and in locked offices," said Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane. "They were doing what they have been trained to do: run, hide, fight." He called the shooting "the most horrific event" in history of Collierville, a suburb of Memphis.

Law enforcement agencies did not identify the shooter or the kind of weapon he used, and they have not publicly speculated on a motive, though some reports suggest he may have been a disgruntled employee.

There have been more than 500 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, leaving more than 500 Americans dead, CBS News reports, and this is at least the second mass shooting at a supermarket, following the one in Boulder, Colorado, in March that left 10 victims dead. That store, King Soopers, is also owned by Kroger, The Washington Post notes.

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"From 2000 to 2017, there was a yearly average of 0.9 shootings on the premises of retailers selling groceries," the Post reports. "In 2018, there were two. Last year, there were six." And it isn't just grocery stores. According to an FBI report in 2020, more than half the 40 active shootings that took place last year were in "commerce-related spaces."