TUMWATER, Wash. – A shooting outside a Washington state Walmart Sunday evening was the end result of a crime spree from the now deceased gunman, police said. That gunman was killed by an armed civilian in the Walmart parking lot.
Tumwater Police spokeswoman Laura Wohl said it all happened just after 5:30 p.m. when officers responded to an erratic driver. When officers were en route to that location they received reports of shots fired near Tumwater High School.
Upon arriving, officers found a 16-year-old girl suffering from minor injuries who reported her car had been stolen.
“As we were speaking to witnesses at that scene, we get another call of shots fired here at Walmart,” Wohl told KCPQ.
Tumwater Police said the suspect tried to carjack two cars in the Walmart parking lot.
One driver was shot when he refused to give up his car. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center and his condition is unknown at this time.
As the suspect tried to take a second car a “bystander here in the parking lot shot the suspect,” Wohl said.
According to a police release, two armed civilians initially approached the suspect.
Police believe the gunman is the suspect in all three incidents. He has not been identified.
Before attempting the carjackings, Tumwater Police said the suspect went into the Walmart and fired at a display case. No customers or employees were injured.
“He is a hero”
Bryan Adams said he was inside the Walmart when he heard two gunshots. He had hoped the noise was actually helium balloons popping.
“We all froze and were looking around,” Adams said. “Then it was like boom, boom, boom, and it was like ‘those aren’t balloons’ and we started running.”
Adams said he ran out of the store and into the parking lot toward his car. The gunman, not far away, then shot a driver of a car he was attempting to steal.
Adams said he then saw a father with his family take out his concealed weapon and shoot the gunman dead.
That man is being hailed a hero by shoppers.
“He is a hero,” Adams said. “He took action. I really think more people could have been shot… he saved us all.”