Tennessee Shooter Was a 3rd-Party Vendor

Police ID Kroger gunman as 29-year-old Uk Thang
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 25, 2021 6:30 AM CDT

More pieces are coming together after Thursday's mass shooting at a Tennessee Kroger, including the identity of the gunman. Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane says authorities are "getting a clearer picture of what occurred," including on 29-year-old Uk Thang, whom they've IDed as the shooter, per the Commercial Appeal. The gunman, who police say was found at the back of the store, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after fatally shooting one and injuring 14, was a third-party vendor for Kroger who acted alone, Lane says.

WREG reports that Lane didn't even say the gunman's name aloud at a Friday presser, instead holding up a legal pad with the name written down "to avoid giving him any notoriety." Lane didn't offer info on a motive, though he noted the shooter had previous "minor charges" against him, without elaborating. Witnesses tell WREG that the gunman worked in the supermarket's sushi department, and one Kroger employee says that the night before the shooting, she'd overheard managers discussing firing him.

"They had to walk the guy out," Lawanda Clark says, adding that the gunman kept to himself, only talking to others in his own department and occasionally arguing with co-workers. Lane said Friday that police hadn't yet confirmed if the gunman had been terminated, per CBS News. A search warrant was executed Thursday evening at the shooter's Collierville residence, with one person questioned, Lane noted, per WREG. He said the surviving victims of the shooting, which included 10 workers and five customers, are in stable condition. (More mass shootings stories.)

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