Walmart loss prevention officer shot by shoplifting suspect, police say

EAST POINT, Ga. — Police say a suspected shoplifter shot a security officer at a Walmart in East Point Friday.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones was at the Walmart, where the incident unfolded in front of customers around noon.

Police said two workers confronted the suspected shoplifter as he tried to leave the stores. The officer tried to take an accused shoplifter’s bag but, the suspect pulled out a gun, shot the loss prevention officer and ran.

Police told Jones that an employee on his lunch break saw the suspect run into the parking lot and called 911. The employee followed the suspect.

“A good Samaritan was actually able to follow him and gave us a kind of general direction of where he was headed,” police said. “We were able to apprehend the suspect in a minute or two.”

Police said they are familiar with the 24-year-old gunman but they have not released his identity.

The officer was conscious when he was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. His identity and condition have not been released.

A witness told Channel 2 Action News that the shooting happened in front of customers. She said she ran out of the store after realizing what was going on.

Some shoppers questioned even confronting shoplifters.

“Let these folks just have this stuff,” a shopper said. “It’s not worth risking their lives for.”

The shooting shut down the store for several hours Friday.

Cox Media Group