The Kroger store at 71st and Georgetown Road is open again following a deadly shooting Monday. Indianapolis Metro Police say a store employee shot and killed a robber.
A Kroger representative tells Eyewitness News that the company has launched its own investigation into the shooting, but that may be delayed because many of Kroger's upper managers are on Christmas vacation.
According to Metro investigators, 26-year-old Jeremy Atkinson came into the store just before 6:00 pm Monday. A store manager says Atkinson put a hard object in her back and possibly demanded money from her.
Police took statements from witnesses. Officers learned that's when 24-year-old Kroger employee Elijah Elliott of Crawfordsville pulled a gun and fired shots, striking Atkinson in the face. Atkinson later died at the hospital.
Here's what both employees and customers told us about the hearing the gunfire.
"I was turning around and was getting ready to head up front and I heard bam, bam bam bam! And I said, 'Oh my God, somebody just got shot.' All of us was just running. Everybody was just running in all kinds of directions," said Catherine Jefferson, witness.
"There were about four shots," said Donald Bryant, Kroger employee. "I was terrified. I was thinking about my family. I thought about how I am going to get out I just ran."
Weapons at work
Kroger refused to release information about the company's policy on weapons at work.
Any Kroger policy could override a recent new Indiana law. Indiana House Bill 1065 allows people to take a gun to work as long as it is stored out of sight in a locked vehicle.
Channel 13 has also learned that the 24-year-old Kroger employee does have a valid gun permit to carry a weapon. Why he had it at work that night remains under investigation.
Meantime, Bryant is just grateful to have survived.
This is a tragedy I had to go through and I thank God I am still alive," he said.
