Sheriff: Walmart employee kills co-worker in Georgia store, woman at nearby home, wounds another

COVINGTON, Ga. (AP) — A Walmart employee shot and killed a co-worker inside a Georgia store and critically wounded another worker outside early Friday while the business was closed to the public, authorities said. After leaving the store, the gunman forced his way into a nearby home nearby and fatally shot a female acquaintance, the Newton County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

“The suspect specifically targeted individuals they knew,” the sheriff's office said.

Employees were working inside the Walmart Supercenter in the Covington area, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta, when the shooting occurred around 1:30 a.m., the sheriff's office said.

The suspect was later apprehended in Aiken, South Carolina, Newton County sheriff's Sgt. Jack Redlinger said in a briefing near the Georgia Walmart. Aiken is near the Georgia-South Carolina line, just east of Augusta, Georgia.

The sheriff's department identified the victims as “acquaintances” of the suspect but did not immediately release more details of the shootings. The worker who was wounded was in critical condition at a hospital Friday morning, authorities said.

Before any of the shootings began, the suspect who was working inside the Walmart left the store and went outside to retrieve a gun and then returned and opened fire, the sheriff's office said.

After the suspect fled Georgia toward South Carolina, Flock Safety surveillance cameras were used to track his vehicle, Redlinger said. The cameras can identify and track vehicles by license plate, type, color and other details and alert law enforcement when they are spotted.

“We’re heartbroken by what’s happened," Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart said in a statement.

“There’s no place for violence in our stores,” the company said. "We’re focused on taking care of our associates and supporting law enforcement with their investigation.”