Florida supermarket shooting leaves 1-year-old boy and his grandmother dead
Detectives with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office now say they have been unable to find any connection between a gunman and the two people he shot and killed at a Publix in Royal Palm Beach Thursday morning.
A young boy not quite 2 years old was one of the victims.
His grandmother was also killed.
The gunman Timothy J. Wall, 55, then shot himself.
The names of the victims will not be released.
The shooting began shortly before noon.
"I was about 100 feet away when I saw everyone running out of the store and yelling, 'Get back! Active shooters! Shots fired!'" said Dr. Ron Glassman, who was inside the store at the time.
"I heard the first gunshot," said Juan Guardia, another witness inside the Publix. "And I went running with all the Publix employees that went to the back part of the store. I ran."
"I probably saw about 50 people or so in small clumps leaving, running from the store, yelling," Glassman said.
PBSO deputies said they received the call of the shooting at 11:40 a.m.
"Upon arrival, deputies located three deceased individuals inside the store near the produce area," said Teri Barbera, spokesperson for PBSO. "What we're doing right now is we're documenting the scene. We're trying to determine what led up to the shooting."
But after nearly nine hours of investigating, that question remains unanswered.
Barbera released a statement Thursday night saying, in part, "There is no known relationship between the gunman and the victims, however, detectives are still investigating."
[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='ecc60521-0ade-47f3-bd60-0b34101ae64a' mediaId='b4178d53-a36f-434b-8221-166262743c75' size=''][/mediaosvideo]Publix released a statement following the incident:
"We can confirm that there was an incident at our Publix store located at 1180 Royal Palm Beach Blvd. earlier today. Our thoughts are with those who are impacted by this tragedy. We are cooperating with the local law enforcement. Since this is an active police investigation, we cannot confirm any additional details. All additional questions should be directed to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office."
The Publix store will remain closed until Saturday.