ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — Three people died Thursday in a shooting reported at a Publix supermarket in Royal Palm Beach, including a child and the suspected shooter, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies confirmed the shooting happened inside the grocery store on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard. Responding deputies found a man, a woman and a child dead of gunshot wounds, officials said.
Update 9:42 p.m. EDT June 10: The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announced in a tweet that the family of the two victims has invoked Marsy’s Law and therefore would not release their names. According to the sheriff’s office, the name of the gunman will be released by authorities after his family has been notified.
The sheriff’s office said there was no known motive or relationship between the victim and the gunman.
The family has invoked Marsy’s Law, therefore, the names of the victims: 1 yr/old boy & his grandmother will not be released. The gunman’s name will be released after his next of kin has been notified. There is NO known motive or relationship between the gunman and the victims. https://t.co/5GIXZ39r7x
— PBSO (@PBCountySheriff) June 11, 2021
Update 7:06 p.m. EDT June 10: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Teri Barbera said investigators believe a grandmother and her grandson are among those killed, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Barbera told reporters it was “possible” the gunman and the victims knew each other.
Authorities have not named the victims or the shooter.
Lynn Waterman, 61, was at the cashier paying and asking for cigarettes when she heard what she thought were balloons popping, the newspaper reported. Then she said the cashier told her there was a shooter and fled.
“Everybody ran out of the store and I stood in the parking lot a while and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why am I standing out here? He could come out and shoot us,’” Waterman told the Sun-Sentinel.
The toddler killed at Publix was going to be 2 at the end of the month.
— Andrew Lofholm (@AndrewLofholm) June 10, 2021
To clarify, it was a boy who was shot and killed. @CBS12
— Andrew Lofholm (@AndrewLofholm) June 10, 2021
Original report: “The shooter is one of the deceased,” deputies said. Authorities added that the incident was not “an active shooter situation.”
Detectives are investigating a shooting that took place INSIDE Publix in RPB. Upon arrival deputies located three individuals deceased from gunshot wounds, one adult male, one adult female and one child. The shooter is one of the deceased. This was NOT an active shooter situation pic.twitter.com/G9KgTr3Mmp
— PBSO (@PBCountySheriff) June 10, 2021
Officials with Publix confirmed reports of the shooting in a statement obtained by WPEC.
“Our thoughts are with those who are impacted by this tragedy,” the statement said. “We are cooperating with local law enforcement.”
.@Publix statement on shooting inside Royal Palm Beach store. PBSO says three dead including a child. Shooter is among the dead. pic.twitter.com/vFGlKA4rSB
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) June 10, 2021
Additional information on the circumstances surrounding the shooting was not immediately available.
“Detectives are in the beginning stages of determining what led up to the shooting,” deputies said in a social media post. “More information will be released when it becomes available.”
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