‘Chaos’: Police investigating shooting outside King Soopers
Mackenzie Stafford
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – On Thursday, April 30, the Pueblo Police Department (PPD) was called to the King Soopers off of W. Northern Avenue. PPD tells KRDO13 it was around 6:50 p.m. when it responded to a shooting in the parking lot.
Police say officers located the involved individuals shortly after their arrival.
PPD says there was talk about a shoplifting incident initially, but they were not able to confirm if those involved in the shooting were also suspected of shoplifting. They also could not confirm what led up to the shooting.
Police say one person was shot and taken to the hospital. PPD says that person is in stable condition.
At this time, no one involved is facing any charges, according to PPD. However, PPD says it is still investigating the incident and that charges could be filed as a result.
KRDO13 spoke with Audra Valdez who was walking in to get groceries when everything unfolded.
“This girl came out of this white door and she was holding a white, like, almost like a small white trash can. No bigger than, like 2 or 3 feet, maybe. And she had a bunch of stuff in there,” recounted Audra Valdez.
Valdez said the woman looked like she was in a hurry and that she appeared to have bread in the recepticle.
“And, the security guard, he was already waiting for her, and he grabbed grabbed the stuff out of her hand,” said Valdez.
Valdez tells KRDO13 another man outside of the King Soopers got involved in what appeared to be an altercation.
“And I heard a gunshot ring out, and I’m like, okay, was that like, a taser or something. Is that like a really loud taser? Because I, I mean, I was just so surprised because I never really heard. I never really got that close to a shooting like that,” explained Audra Valdez.
She said she didn’t see who fired the gun, but immediately heard car alarms going off in the parking lot.
“Chaos that just sounded more like chaos. And it actually was because I don’t think people were thinking it was a gunshot, but they didn’t see it, so they didn’t really know what to think,” said Valdez.
Valdez tells KRDO13 she walked inside the store, where many where chattering about what had just occured outside. By the time Valdez walked back out with a few groceries she says she saw multiple police vehicles.
We asked King Soopers if it was their security guard who was injured in the shooting, they said that it wasn’t, and that they’re cooperating with police.
On Friday, yellow police tape is still scattered in some areas of the parking lot.