Deputy wounds 'active shooter' inside Pensacola grocery store

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A sheriff's deputy in Florida shot a man Thursday afternoon after the suspect allegedly opened fire inside a grocery store.

No one inside the Grocery Advantage store in Pensacola was injured, according to Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Andrew Hobbs.

Authorities received their first call at 2:42 p.m. Thursday, telling dispatchers that a man inside the store was causing a disturbance, Hobbs said.

Deputies arrived on scene within four to five minutes of receiving the call, to find the man was shooting inside the store.

"He was an active shooter," Hobbs said.

Hobbs said the suspect was firing a handgun at people but did not hit anyone. When deputies approached the man, he confronted them with the gun.

A deputy shot the suspect, who was transported to a local hospital, according to Hobbs.

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Officials didn’t immediately release the name of the shooting suspect. His condition and injuries are unknown

Lee Gainey was at work across the street from Grocery Advantage when the shooting occurred. He said he had a clear view of the grocery store’s front doors.

“People came out screaming and saying there was a shooter,” Gainey said. “They were all running out.”

Four cashiers and a handful of customers all ran out of the store’s front doors nearly at once, Gainey said.

“It was fast,” Gainey said. “It seemed like only 30 seconds after I saw the four cashiers running, the police were everywhere.”

Gainey said it seemed like sheriff’s office vehicles swarmed from every direction toward the store’s entrance.

According to Escambia County officials, EMS was contacted at 3:05 p.m. and responded to the scene at 3:09 p.m. They transported an adult patient to a local hospital as a trauma alert for multiple gunshot wounds.

In a written statement posted on Facebook, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan commended deputies for their response.

"As the Sheriff, I know I speak not only for the Sheriff’s Office but all citizens of Escambia County, in thanking the fine men and women of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for their professionalism and courage which is displayed every day, but especially today in stopping this suspect,” the sheriff said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola 'active shooter': Deputy shoots suspect in Grocery Advantage store