Arkansas grocery store reopens after mass shooting that leaves 4 dead

FORDYCE, Ark. The sounds that filled the Mad Butcher supermarket on Tuesday — the beeps of barcode scanners, the clanking of shopping carts and the opening of cash register drawers — were familiar to customers and employees at the only supermarket in the small town of Fordyce, Arkansas.

But this was not a normal day for the store, which reopened 11 days later a shooter killed four people and injured 10 others at Mad Butcher and its parking lot. Community leaders called Tuesday’s reopening an important part of the healing process for a city of 3,200 shocked by the mass shooting.

“It’s more than a store,” said Dallas County Sheriff Mike Knoedel, who responded to the shooting and was on hand for the store’s reopening. “It’s a meeting point. Every time I’m in this store, two or three times a week, you’re talking to the neighbors. Everyone knows everyone.”

The store’s closure left Fordyce no grocery store and few nearby alternatives following the shooting, which led to the creation of several food distribution sites throughout the community. Although the town has a Walmart and discount stores with some food options, the closest grocery stores or supermarkets are located in neighboring towns, at least half an hour away.

“This is Fordyce,” said Dick Rinehart, a mechanic who went to the store Tuesday to buy ribs, bread and lunch meat. “Without this grocery store, where would we go?”

Employees and volunteers who attended the reopening gave customers t-shirts that said #WeAreFordyceStrong. A banner with the same message has hung under the store’s green awning since the shooting. Memorials to the shooting victims, including flowers and crosses, stand near the store’s parking lot.

Kent J. Broughton, a pastor in Fordyce who was loading his cart with watermelons, said the store’s reopening restores a place for many in the community to connect with family or friends.

“If you’re bored and you need something to do, if you want to see someone, just go to the grocery store,” Broughton said. “You’ll meet someone you know, a friend or cousin or something, and you go from there.”

Police did not say a motive for the shooting. Travis Eugene Posey, 44, declared himself innocent last week on four counts of capital murder and ten counts of attempted capital murder and is being held in a neighboring county jail without bond. Posey was injured after a shootout with officers who responded to the attack, authorities said.

Police said Posey was armed with a handgun and a shotgun, and several gunshot victims were found at the store and in its parking lot. Authorities said Posey did not appear to have a personal connection to any of the victims.

The store reopened the day after the last of four funerals for the victims, which age between 23 and 81 years. Mayor John MacNichol said he never would have imagined a mass shooting occurring in his close-knit city, but said he is proud of the community’s response.

“I think we are fine. I’m not saying we’re doing very well,” MacNichol said. “But I think it’s bringing the community closer together and bringing us together.”