A man was fatally shot overnight in the parking lot of a Walmart in Providence, Rhode Island.
Providence police responded to the store at 51 Silver Spring Street around 1:03 a.m. Saturday for a report of a shooting and found a 51-year-old man with a gunshot wound in a large box truck that was parked near the store’s entrance, according to NBC10 Boston affiliate WJAR.
The suspect, who was still on scene, was taken into custody, while the victim was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Neither has been publicly identified at this time.
According to police, the victim and suspect knew each other and were at Walmart to work on the floors when they got into a physical altercation that escalated into a shooting, WJAR reports.
A global communications spokesperson for Walmart tells WJAR that they’re aware of the incident and working with police as they investigate.
The fatal shooting has people frustrated with the level of violence occurring in the city.
“I’m never brining my kids back to this Walmart again,” Dakota Goode, of Providence, told WJAR. “It’s sad because this is our community and it’s all that we have.”
“It seems like I’ve always got to go out far just to have a safe area for my children to be in,” Goode added. “Honestly, I thought the caution tape was for paint or something and then when they told me it was a shooting.”
WJAR
“It’s sad to hear that thing is going on and not just in Providence but all over the country,” Steve Lovato, who is visiting Rhode Island for work, told WJAR. “Everyone needs to chill out, they really do, and take it easy.”
The shooting remains under investigation.