Walmart Shooting Sees Multiple People Killed as Police Hunt Suspect

A suspect is being hunted by police after two people were shot in a busy Walmart parking lot early on Sunday evening.

Police raced to the location after reports of a shooting outside the store in South Anchorage, Alaska, just after 5:10 p.m. and found the bodies of a man and a woman.

Sunday's incident, which unfolded on the Old Seward Highway at 88th Avenue just south of the Dimond Center mall, prompted a major response with several police units attending as the store was locked down. Investigators found a firearm at the scene, and officers are searching for the suspect, according to local media reports.

The incident comes amid a spate of gun crime across the nation that has sparked a fierce debate about gun control and left politicians seemingly unable to answer how to address the problem. The violence blighting American cities has led to multiple countries issuing warnings to their citizens who may be considering traveling to the U.S.

The Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings across the country, has calculated that 38,130 people have died after being shot so far this year, though that figure also includes suicides and accidental deaths.

Sean Keating, a crime scene team leader, of Anchorage Police Department (APD), told Anchorage Daily News that police have launched a search for the person responsible for Sunday's double homicide. It was fortunate more people weren't hurt because the store is "so populated... and that just happened right outside the main entrance. It's just insane," he said.

Details about the incident remain sparse and officers have not yet released a description of the suspect or publicly identified the victims. Investigators plan to trawl through the store's surveillance footage in the hope that the suspect was caught on camera.

Newsweek has contacted APD by email seeking further information and comment.

An APD statement released on Sunday night said: "The circumstances of the incident are under investigation, but officers have cause to believe this is an isolated incident. There have been no arrests at this time, and this is an active investigation."

Officers appealed for anyone with information about the incident to call Police Dispatch at 3-1-1 (select option 1) or 907-786-8900 (select option 0).

Walmart has thousands of stores across the U.S.—some 4,717 at the last count, according to figures compiled by Statista—which means statistically the chain will occasionally find itself to be the site of a shooting.

Two shoppers were shot after a fight broke out at a Walmart in Alabama back in just after Christmas in 2022.

In January 2023, three people were shot in the parking lot of an Illinois Walmart as they loaded groceries into their car in January.

Update 11/20/23 14:422 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information throughout.