A 20-year-old Norwood man is facing charges after police say he fired shots in the parking lot of the Kroger on Montgomery Road, an incident that reportedly frightened people at the store but left no one hurt. Christopher Eldridge now faces counts of inducing panic, disorderly conduct and a gun offense, and a judge has set his bond at $3,500.
According to WKRC, the incident happened Sunday at the grocery store in Norwood, Ohio, and reports indicated there were no injuries despite the alarm the gunfire reportedly caused. The station identified Eldridge as a Norwood resident accused of firing the shots in the store's parking lot.
A separate 2022 incident occurred at the same Kroger four years earlier. WLWT reported that two groups were fighting inside the Montgomery Road store Monday afternoon, September 5, 2022, and that one person from each group pulled a gun — but that, according to that report, neither person actually fired a shot. The WKRC account concerns a different incident, reported as occurring Sunday, October 25, 2026.
Witnesses Describe Chaos Inside the Store
Per the WLWT report, witnesses said a man pulled out a gun during the fight and pointed it at several people, sending customers and employees running to hide. The same report says both customers and employees called 911 Monday evening.
Police reviewed surveillance footage in an effort to identify the people involved, but as of Tuesday evening, that video had not been released publicly, the outlet's report notes. No further update on the footage's release status is available.
Charges and Bond for Eldridge
Eldridge faces charges of inducing panic, disorderly conduct and a gun offense, per WKRC's report. A judge has since set his bond at $3,500.
Pattern of Gunfire at Local Kroger Stores
The Norwood incident adds to a string of gun-related scares at Kroger locations around Greater Cincinnati in recent months. In November 2025, Local 12 reported that shots were fired in the parking lot of a Kroger near the University of Cincinnati campus, striking windows near the store's front entrance. A shot was also fired inside the Westwood Kroger on Glenway Avenue, according to WLWT, and in August, WCPO reported that a Kroger in Hamilton was evacuated after someone threatened to begin shooting inside the store.
