The Associated Press
May 22, 2001
ROCKFORD -- A suspected shoplifter at a Wal-Mart store pulled a gun today and shot three employees before she was killed by police, authorities said.
Laura Gassaway, 33, of Rockford, was shot and killed by police, said Rockford Police Sgt. Joe Westmoreland. He said his department previously had arrested her on misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct charges.
``She has had some run-in with the police, but there's been nothing else this violent,'' Westmoreland said.
Gassaway was pregnant at the time of the shooting, Police Chief Jeff Nielsen said at a press conference. But Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said she could not confirm that until an autopsy, scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday.
The incident began when store employees refused to sell Gassaway bullets because she did not have a state firearm owner's identification card, Nielsen said.
Gassaway then began shoplifting other items -- worth about $20 or less -- and was stopped by store security, Westmoreland said. Security officers called police and took the suspect to their office, where she pulled a handgun from inside her pants and opened fire, he said.
``When police heard the shots, they went back to the security room and found her shooting the three employees. That's when they shot her,'' Westmoreland said.
Two officers fired 21 shots at Gassaway, because she would not drop her weapon, Nielsen said at the news conference.
Gassaway was taken to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, said Mary Reinke, a hospital spokeswoman.
Wal-Mart employee Fred Hills, 32, of Rockford was treated and released with gunshot wounds to the left knee, Reinke said.
Wal-Mart employees Simon Avery, 26, of Rockford and Ester Daberan, 33, Oregon, were both in fair condition late this afternoon at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, spokesman Gregory Alford said. He said both had gunshot wounds in the lower leg and neither appeared to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
Two of the employees were Wal-Mart security guards, the other was an assistant manager, said Tom Williams, a spokesman for Wal-Mart at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Williams said the incident took place in an area where there were no customers.
``We're just very pleased that apparently none of our three employees who were hurt had life-threatening injuries, and that no customers were hurt. And thank goodness it ended very, very quickly,''