A violent altercation at a Walmart store in Cordova turned critical when a former employee allegedly shot a customer. The incident unfolded on Friday afternoon, leaving the victim fighting for his life, Memphis authorities confirmed.
Memphis Police Department responded to calls of a shooting at the Walmart located at 537 N. Germantown Parkway around 2:15 p.m., where they discovered a man suffering from a gunshot wound. The injured party was promptly taken to Regional One Hospital in critical condition, as reported by Local Memphis. Meanwhile, the suspect fled the scene in a black Mazda SUV, initially leading Shelby County Sheriff's deputies on a wild goose chase with a mistaken identity arrest.
However, by 9 p.m. Friday, authorities had taken 23-year-old suspect Tamarris Hopkins into custody. Hopkins, a former employee of the store, was charged with attempted murder among other serious offenses, the Memphis Police shared. Prior to the incident, Hopkins had an argument with a female near the store's entrance before engaging with the male victim, according to FOX13 Memphis.
Witnesses described the ordeal as terrifying, with one employee recalling between "10 and 15 gunshots," according to her statement obtained by FOX13 Memphis. Joel Hinojosa, a customer at Walmart recounted the chaos stating, "as he was leaving Walmart people were running towards the exit, stumbling over each other." Hinojosa shared with ABC24, "You hear about it but you don't think too much about it you just kinda have sympathy towards the people, but when you're in an actual shooting everything changes. I felt that today would be my last day."
The Memphis Fire Department confirmed that the victim remains hospitalized at Regional One, as mentioned by Action News 5. This incident adds another chapter to the continuing narrative of gun violence plagued locales where citizens, simply partaking in everyday errands, find themselves in the line of fire. As the investigation unfolds, more details are expected to come to light.
