Female cashier shot dead after face mask policy dispute in Georgia grocery store
An Atlanta area grocery store cashier was killed and three other people were injured in a shooting following a dispute over a face mask policy in the supermarket Monday, police said.
Driving the news: DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox said during a news conference that the female cashier was working at the Big Bear Supermarket in Decatur when she was shot following a "confrontation" over the wearing of masks.
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Zoom in: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that the suspect, identified by police as 30-year-old Victor Lee Tucker, "got into an argument with a cashier about his face mask" about 1:10 p.m. local time before leaving the store without making a purchase. But he "immediately returned inside."
"Tucker walked directly back to the cashier, pulled out a handgun and shot her," according to the statement.
Sheriff Maddox said a reserve deputy, who worked part-time as security for the store and was wearing a bulletproof vest, then exchanged gunfire with the suspect and both were injured, as a bullet grazed a second cashier.
DeKalb County Police Department officers arrested the suspect as he tried to crawl out the supermarket door, according to Georgia investigators.
Both the deputy and a suspect were taken to a medical center in a stable condition. The first cashier was pronounced dead in the hospital.
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