Officer-involved shooting reported at Columbia Wal-Mart, 2 injured

A bystander and an armed man were shot at a Bush River Road Wal-Mart store Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. Police shot the armed man.

Columbia police Chief Skip Holbrook said officers were called about noon because a man was carrying a gun and acting erratically at the store, which is located between I-26 and I-20 along a busy retail shopping area.

Holbrook declined to take questions. He also did not identify anyone involved in the shooting, which occurred in a Murphy gas station that is part of the Walmart complex.

Holbrook said the gunman shot a man who was at a gas pump. The officers were not hurt. The injured gas station customer did not have a life-threatening injury, the chief said. The victim was rushed to a hospital for surgery.

A Walmart employee was at the gas station when the gunman, chased by police, ran across the parking lot. The Walmart employee said the armed man made it inside the small store at the gas station and locked one of the doors.

She and gas station staffers began screaming in fear, said the woman, who declined to tell her whole eyewitness account to reporters. The gunman ordered them to be quiet, the Walmart employee said. Then, he run out through a different door.

She fled to her car, locking herself in the back seat, the woman said. The gunman tried to get in before police shot him, she said.

The woman initially was telling her story to reporters, but she declined to elaborate after a State Law Enforcement Division agent walked her away. But she continued her account while talking to bystanders, even as reporters stood within earshot of her conversation.

The armed man then ran toward officers and “engaged” them, Holbrook said during a news conference at the scene. Officers fired several rounds, striking the man at least once, he said.

The suspect also is in surgery, though Holbrook did not elaborate about the type of injury the gunman has. Holbrook only would say the man was conscious when he was transported.

Two officers were involved in the shooting, Holbrook said. SLED agents are conducting the investigation of the officer-involved shooting, which is standard practice for the Columbia Police Department.

A Columbia police officer was stabbed and injured at the same Walmart in December.

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Officer-involved shooting reported at Columbia Wal-Mart, 2 injured."