MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The victims of Thursday’s mass shooting in Collierville continue to recover in the hospital. But the reality is everyone in the community has been impacted by what happened inside of that Kroger.
Two days after the Collierville mass shooting, reminders of the tragedy are all around, from the caution tape sprawled across Kroger’s parking lot, to the broken-out glass. It’s a sight that weighs heavily for many across the community.
“It’s definitely very emotional pulling up to places where you shop everyday and seeing the barricade and the parking lot being empty as, of course, the community is still in shock,” said Collierville resident Amy House.
Collierville police identified the accused gunman as Uk Thang, a third-party vendor with Kroger. Fifteen people were shot and one of the victims died.
WREG has learned that Thang was possibly in the process of being fired, according to a Kroger employee. Regardless of the circumstances, Collierville resident Ida Lofton says that’s not an excuse for what happened.
“We need to love our neighbors as ourselves, and if we love our neighbors then we wouldn’t do what happened here,” Lofton said. “We need to love each other, we need to protect each other, and we just need to know that whatever our situation is it does not require that we take another person’s life because we’re unhappy.”
Of the victims shot, six are still hospitalized at Regional One. Two of them are in critical condition.
As the community as tries to move forward, a memorial has formed paying homage to the victims and resilience of the town.
“It shows that, of course, awful things like this may happen, it still can’t get the community down,” House said. “We have to rise back up and show them that we are resilient and that we will come together.”
Collierville Police said the crime scene at the Kroger has been cleared, but they will remain out here securing the property as Kroger conducts its investigation.