Witness: Kroger Shooter Said 'Whites Don't Kill Whites'

Gregory Bush tried to access black church before supermarket attack
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 26, 2018 4:38 AM CDT
Police: Kroger Shooter First Tried to Access Black Church
A gun lies on the ground inside a police barricade following a shooting at a Kroger grocery that left two people dead and a suspect in custody, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018, in Jeffersontown, Ky.   (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

A white man with a history of violence and mental illness was recorded on surveillance video apparently trying to get inside a predominantly black church in Kentucky before he went to a grocery store and fatally shot two African-Americans, police say. After releasing a photo of the suspect, authorities received a tip from an employee of the city of Jeffersontown who said he thought he saw Gregory Bush outside the First Baptist church prior to Wednesday's shooting, city police chief Sam Rogers said. The video confirmed Bush's presence, Rogers said. The information came amid reports that Bush made a racial comment after the deadly shooting at a Kroger in Jeffersontown. Rogers said it was too soon, however, to say whether the shooting was racially motivated, the AP reports.

According to an arrest report, Bush walked into the Kroger, shot a man in the back of the head, and kept shooting him multiple times as he was down on the floor. The report says he then walked outside and shot a woman in the parking lot multiple times. Ed Harrell told the Courier Journal he was waiting on his wife in the parking lot when he heard gunshots and grabbed his revolver. As he crouched down, he saw the gunman walk "nonchalantly" by. Harrell said he called out to ask what was going on, and the gunman replied: "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites." Bush "fired wildly" at an armed citizen who challenged him and was arrested a few hundred yards from the scene. The local coroner's office identified the victims as Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vicki Lee Jones, 67.

(More Kentucky stories.)

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