Officers chased two people out of a busy Walmart in West Palm Beach Saturday afternoon and confronted them in the parking lot where ‘shots were fired,’ according to police. It remains unknown who fired the shots.
A little after 2 p.m., someone at the Walmart in the 4000 block of 45th Street got the attention of a West Palm Beach police officer who was working the detail there, according to Mike Jachles, a spokesperson for the police department. He informed the officer that a robbery was either happening or about to happen.
The officer and a fellow officer went into the store, where they saw two people wearing face coverings, Jachles said. Both fled through the same entrance, and the officers chased them to the parking lot on the east side of the store, where one of the suspects took out a handgun.
Jachles did not know the suspects’ ages, but said both were male.
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The officers gave commands to the suspects before shots were fired, Jachles said, but crime scene investigators “have not confirmed who fired the shots.”
“We don’t know who shot what or how many shots at this point,” he said. No one was struck. The store remained open throughout the incident.
“Even though this was in the parking lot, it was busy,” Jachles said, adding that there could have been “innocent bystanders.”
Police arrested the suspect who brandished the gun, taking his gun and an extended magazine. The other suspect remains at large.
“Obviously these two males were up to something,” Jachles said. “You don’t just run. Something was about to go down if it hadn’t already.”
Investigators remain on scene, where they will process evidence and talk to witnesses.
English (United States) ·