Shooting at Indiana store leaves 3 dead, 2 officers wounded

When police reached the shooting area, they found two dead. When they 'engaged' the shooting suspect outside the store, two officers were wounded and the suspect was fatally shot

ELKHART: A shooting at a grocery store in northern Indiana on Monday left three people dead, including the suspected shooter, and two police officers wounded, officials said.

Police received a 911 call at about 5.30 pm about a shooting at Martin’s Super Market in Elkhart, the city police department said in a social media post. When officers arrived, they found two shooting victims dead inside the store.

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When police “engaged” the shooting suspect outside the store, two officers were wounded and the suspect was fatally shot, according to the Elkhart Police Department post, which was made to update information given at an earlier news conference.

The officers were taken to hospitals with gunshot wounds, the post said. One has since been released and the other is in stable condition, it said.“In this horrific situation, words cannot express the pain felt in our community when a tragic incident like this happens,” Elkhart Police Department Chief Dan Milanese said in a statement.

The names of the victims, suspect and officers will not be released until families have been notified.

Erin Swary, a pregnant mother, was at the store checking out and talking with the person bagging her groceries when she heard a pop, she told WNDU-TV. She said she first thought the sound was a balloon but then saw everyone ducking down so she did, too. “After that I would say there were six to eight more shots, just one right after another,” Swary said. “So, I was just down on the ground, just frozen.”Swary said she eventually got out of the store, shaken and breathless.

Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson in a statement on Monday night asked people to continue to pray for the victims including “our two police officers who were wounded, our heroic first responders, and those at the incident.”

Governor Mike Braun said on social media that he was in contact with state and local law enforcement about the shooting.“Maureen and I are praying for the victims and their families,” the post said, referencing his wife. Elkhart is about 24 kilometers east of South Bend, Indiana.