Police are trying to determine what prompted a U.S. Air Force airman to walk into a Wal-Mart Supercenter and kill one worker, injure another, then fatally shoot himself.
Grand Forks police said the shooting a few minutes after 1 a.m. Tuesday may have been random, with no link yet found between Marcell Willis, 21, and either the store or the employees. Willis was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, west of the city.
Grand Forks Mayor Michael Brown said in a statement that the shooting shook the North Dakota city of about 55,000 people.
Authorities didn't immediately identify the two workers who were shot or a third worker they say Willis shot at but missed. The injured person was taken to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks with a gunshot wound that was not believed to be life-threatening, Zimmel said. An Altru spokeswoman said the person was in satisfactory condition Tuesday afternoon.
Willis was given medical treatment at the scene and taken to Altru, where he was pronounced dead, Zimmel said.
Willis was the only person with a gun and no police officers fired a weapon, according to Zimmel. A handgun was recovered near Willis' body, Zimmel said.
Zimmel said police believe the airman fired only three shots before shooting himself. Police did not identify the type of handgun or its calibre.
When police later escorted them from the building, they passed a Wal-Mart employee lying on the ground, covered in blood.
Wal-Mart said it was "deeply saddened" by the attack.
Sgt. David Dobrydney, a base spokesman, said he couldn't yet release any information about Willis due to Air Force regulations.
About 1,500 airmen are assigned to the Grand Forks Air Force Base, the military said. The base was home to air refuelling tankers for 50 years until a round of military base closings and realignments took that away. The last tankers left in 2011 and the base has taken on an unmanned aircraft mission.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.