AUGUSTA — Police say no one was injured Monday when a shot was fired inside the Walmart in Augusta.
In speaking with reporters shortly after 9 p.m., Sgt. Christian Behr said the shot was fired from a handgun around 8 p.m. and the store is now closed.
Behr said an update might come later Monday or Tuesday morning.
On Monday night, police had blocked the west entrance to the store with crime scene tape and Walmart employees in the parking lot were letting people know the store was closed.
One witness, visibly shaken and trying not to cry, stood in the nearly vacant parking lot waiting to give a statement to police, said she was not far from where the shot was fired and ran out of the store. She declined to give her name.
April Murray, of Augusta, arrived at Walmart after the shot was fired and was unable to go into the store. She said she saw a woman in the parking lot who appeared to be having trouble breathing.
Kari Glover, of Waldoboro, said she arrived just after the shot was fired and witnessed the woman in distress. Glover said she heard the woman, who appeared to be in her 60s or 70s, screaming in her car. After that, the man with her said she had stopped breathing.
While help was being administered to the woman, Glover said she saw the police leave the store with a man in handcuffs.
Augusta Police Deputy Chief Jared Mills says the suspect was taken into custody after an officer who was nearby responded to the scene.
Mills says a woman died outside of the store in a separate situation. The medical examiner’s office is working to determine the cause of death.
Police say they are reviewing surveillance video from the store. An investigation continues.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Police respond to a report of a shot fired at Walmart in Augusta, Maine, on Monday. (WGME photo)
Send questions/comments to the editors.
