Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — An officer working at a New Orleans Walmart may have saved lives by quickly arresting a gunman who had walked in and killed a store employee and wounded another person, police said.
New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson commended the actions of the unidentified officer, who was working an off-duty security detail in the store crowded with shoppers early Monday evening in the city’s Gentilly area.
“He immediately approached and apprehended this individual and took him into custody, which may have saved many other lives within this business,” Ferguson told reporters at a news conference Monday night.
Kentrell Baham, 21, was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, according to police statement. Ferguson said officers had not yet determined a motive for the shooting.
According to a police statement, responding officers found a male in an aisle of the store with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. A second person, identified as female, had a gunshot wound to the foot and was in stable condition, police said.
“This is a very brazen incident,” the police chief said. “You see an individual walk into a business this time of the evening — with hundreds of customers inside this business — armed with a weapon and willing to cause someone harm,” Ferguson said.
The names, ages and other information about the victims weren’t immediately released.
Police said a local coroner’s office would conduct an autopsy on the man who was killed. It’s unclear whether Baham has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.