A grandmother and her 1-year-old grandson were killed in a shooting Thursday inside a Publix store at The Crossroads shopping center in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, according to reporter Ian Margol.
The boy’s father visited the store to identify his son’s body, Margol reported. Police confirmed there was “no known relationship” between the suspect and the two victims, according to WPBF reporter Ari Hait.
The suspect has been identified as Timothy J. Wall, 55, of Royal Palm Beach, according to reporter Jorge Gonzalez, citing the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The agency said late Thursday it would not identify either the woman or the toddler, who would have turned 2 years old this month, The Palm Beach Post reported. It said their family had invoked its rights under a 2018 amendment to the Florida state constitution, modeled on California’s Marsy’s Law, that allows crime victims and their families to withhold their names from public reports.
Wall died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Margol reported, citing the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office said authorities received the first call about the shooting around 11:40 a.m., news outlet WPEC reported. The first deputies on scene found the three people dead in the store.
It was not an active shooter situation.
“Our thoughts are with those who are impacted by this tragedy,” Publix said in a statement, adding that it is cooperating with law enforcement. The company declined further comment. It is Florida’s largest grocery chain and has more than 1,200 stores in the South.
Juan Guardia told The Palm Beach Post he was in the deli area when the shooting happened in the produce aisle.
“I heard, ‘They’re shooting!’ A woman Publix worker said, ‘Run! Shooting!’” Guardia said. “I was scared. It’s sad because everything happened fast. Everyone was running; some employees were crying.”
Ron Glassman, a stress management consultant, had just parked his car and was heading to another shop when about 50 customers and employees in small clusters came running out of the Publix yelling, “There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter. Don’t go in there.”
“It was pretty chaotic. People were very shaken,” Glassman said.
He said armed sheriff’s deputies wearing helmets and bulletproof vests arrived about five minutes later.
Onlookers, who gathered outside, expressed shock at the deadly events that unfolded.
“This is a friendly Publix. I can’t believe this crazy thing happened,” said Tracy Greene, a regular at the shopping center.
“I’ve been here for 20 years, and I can’t believe this is happening,” agreed Tracey Cohron, a Royal Palm Beach resident who often shops at the Publix. “I know so many people who work there. I’m scared to death to find out who even got shot.”
Had she left her home six minutes earlier, Cohron said, she might have been inside the store when gunfire erupted. “This is insane,” she said. “I can’t believe this is really happening in my neighborhood.”
Oahtee Moody, a Royal Palm Beach resident who lives across the street from the center, said the shooting was a tragic sign of the times.
“This is not a Publix problem. This is a people problem,” Moody said. “I was born and raised here, and I never would expect this to happen.”
In a statement, County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who represents the area, expressed sympathy for those who were killed, their families, those who witnessed the shootings and first responders.
But, she said, mourning is not enough. “Tomorrow we must step up and engage in a very honest conversation about why this happened and what we can do specifically to prevent this violence. Inaction is not an option.”
While a handful of Publix employees were allowed to leave the store, it appeared most workers and some customers were being kept inside to be interviewed by deputies. At about 2:30 p.m., many workers began leaving the store.
Law enforcement officials were checking license tags on cars in the parking lot. People were not being allowed to move their vehicles.
Publix recently had announced that the store, which has been at the plaza for nearly 40 years, would close for renovations.
Royal Palm Beach is a middle-class suburb of 40,000 residents, about 15 miles inland from Palm Beach.
The Associated Press and Tribune News Service contributed to this report.
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