The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says a customer at an Atlanta-area supermarket shot and killed a cashier Monday over an argument about COVID-19 masks.
According to a press release from the GBI, the suspect got into an argument about masks with the cashier at a Big Bear grocery store in DeKalb County, Georgia on Monday afternoon.
The customer left the store without making a purchase but soon returned with a handgun and fatally shot the cashier.
An off-duty DeKalb County Sheriff's deputy intervened, and the deputy and the suspect exchanged gunfire. Both the suspect and the deputy were wounded.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the off-duty officer is a retired officer who was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the shooting.
Officers with the DeKalb County Police Department arrested the suspect as he attempted to crawl out the store's front door.
The deputy and the suspect were both taken to local hospitals for treatment. Both are said to be stable. The cashier was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital.
WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that a bullet also grazed a second cashier. She was treated for her injuries at the scene.
The GBI says DeKalb County Police Department will issue an arrest warrant for the suspect, identified as 30-year-old Victor Lee Tucker Jr of Palmetto, Georgia. The identity of the cashier was not released.
