“It’s been a very trying last few hours,” Skaggs said, her voice trembling. “Sara and I didn’t know each other before. But now, I told her from the beginning when we came out, she’s my guardian angel. I’m just grateful for her. We ran and hid and heard everything. It was very, very traumatic. We just ask that you pray for us for peace – and sleep. That’s one thing that’s kind of hard.”
The gunman, identified by police as
Police have described Thang as a “third-party vendor” who worked at the
The victims included 10 employees and five customers, police said. On Friday, some of the wounded were still in critical condition and fighting for their lives, Collierville Police Chief
Lane identified the woman who was killed as
On Facebook, one of King’s sons,
“They tried to save her at the hospital to no avail,” he wrote. “I apologize for the graphic details, but this type of crime needs to stop being glossed over and sanitized. No one deserves this.”
Police searched the shooter’s home Thursday and removed electronic devices.
“We all want to know the why,” Lane said of the shooter’s motive. “But today, less than 24 hours (after the shooting), we’re not ready to tell you that.”
The shooter’s parents live in
Kyaw said Thang worked at a sushi business that operated inside the Collierville
Kyaw said Thang’s parents were “very upset” about their son’s involvement and were praying for all the people involved.
“His mom is very sad,” Kyaw said. “She’s tired.”
Kyaw came to the door of the parents’ home at the end of a cul-de-sac in the
The shooter, acting alone, did not appear to target anyone specifically as he rampaged through the building on a sunny Thursday afternoon, police said. The entire shooting was over within minutes as first responders swarmed the scene.
Lane said the outcome could have been worse. Police received a call around
He said officers of every rank ran into the building and were joined by off-duty firefighters.
“Nobody wants to go into that scene, I can promise you," Lane said. “I mean, there were bloody people running out of that building, and there was not one blue uniform that hesitated, from the bottom all the way up. We’re in there trying to help.”
“It sounded like they were directly over my head,” he said, adding he could feel the concussion of every shot and knew the weapon was powerful.
“As the firing started, I dove in front of my vehicle onto the ground to provide the most cover for myself and instructed the people around me panicking, trying to get into the cars, not to get in their cars, but to actually hide,” he said.
Earlier this year,
Lee said Friday that the new law strengthened penalties that come into play when violent crime occurs.
“The constitutional carry bill applies to law-abiding citizens," he said. “What happened yesterday was criminal activity, violent criminal gun activity. And those are separate issues. The constitutional carry piece of legislation we passed, in fact, strengthened penalties for violent gun criminals, and we need to continue to find ways to attack violence and violent crime and we’ll keep doing that.”
The
Mattise and Loller reported from
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