Three dead, many questions after Indiana store shootout

Authorities in Indiana were trying to determine Thursday why a man walked into an Elkhart grocery story and shot two women with a semiautomatic weapon.The suspect, described by Elkhart police as a white male, was fatally shot moments later by police officers who were on an unrelated call nearby and responded to a 911 call at Martin's,The Elkhart Truthreports. The newspaper said the victims included a 20-year-old employee and a 44-year-old shopper.Indiana State Police Sgt. Trent Smith said the Elkhart officers heard gunfire as they entered the store and followed the sound to where they found the gunman pointing his gun at another person.The suspect then turned the gun toward the officers and was shot and killed by the officers, Smith said. The newspaper said the State Police will handle the case because the shooting involved Elkhart officers."It's a huge crime scene," Smith said of thestore. "It's from one end to the next."Smith said investigators were trying to finda motive for the shooting. It had not been determined if the suspect knew his victims.Elkhart, a northern Indiana city of about 50,000, sits about 15 miles from South Bend. Its police officers are trained in active shooter scenarios. which "played a huge role" in ending the incident without additional casualties, Smith said."If you said 'active shooter' 10 years ago, no one would have known what you were talking about," Smith said. "That's today's society, unfortunately. We hoped that this would never come to our hometown, but here it is."The president of Martin's, which operates 21 stores in Indiana and Michigan, issued a statement saying he would be "forever grateful" to police officers for their quick response, saying it saved lives."The entire Martin's family is saddened by this tragedy," Rob Bartels said in the statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved and the entire community. Additionally, we would like to thank everyone in the community for all your thoughts and prayers."TheTruthspoke with Tony Beltran, an Elkhart resident who said his mother works in the store's deli."I was ready to go to bed when I got a phone call from my mother, she was obviously upset," Beltrain told theTruth."She told me she heard what sounded like gun shots.""This world I guess is kind of screwed up right now," he said. "You can't even go to the grocery store and be safe."Other businesses near Martin's were put on lockdown during the incident. Jessica Smith, general manager of the Fat Tomato Italian restaurant nearby, told theTruththat some employees also work at Martin'sand were devastated by the shooting."It was very scary," Jessica Smith said."The Fat Tomato as a business will do anything we can to help."