Authorities in Hiram, Georgia are investigating a shooting that unfolded at a local Walmart on Wednesday as a murder-suicide.
At around 7:30 p.m., officers responded to reports of a shooting at the store on Jimmy Lee Smith Parkway and found two victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
The victims died on the way to hospital, Hiram Police Chief Mike Turner said. Investigators later learned that the male victim shot the woman before he turned the gun on himself.
Turner said that the pair knew each other and that the man was likely an employee of the Walmart.
“This is one of those events where it’s going to happen where the two people happen to meet. This was an opportunistic event. This was not an event where somebody went in with the intent to do something and had a plan to do it, it appears,” he said.
Turner added that the incident left the town of Hiram in complete shock.
“It is very unusual for us. We have not had an incident like that in the two-plus years that I’ve been here, but what I can tell you is that we hope this is the last one. Our prayers, our thoughts go to everybody that’s involved.”
