On Thursday, September 23rd what started as a normal trip to the grocery store for many turned into a nightmare. At around 1:30pm local authorities received reports of a shooting in a Kroger store in Collierville, Tennessee.  As the gunman entered the store and began to open fire, employees and customers of the store rushed to the back to hide where he followed them and continued shooting. People watched their co-workers get shot right next to them as they all feared for their lives. Unfortunately this attack leaves at least 12 injured and 2 dead. One being a victim of the gunman’s attacks and the other being the gunman himself who is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. These numbers  may seem small but the grief is being felt throughout the entire community.

     Olivia King, the woman who died in the shooting, was a huge part of her community. Many of her neighbors spoke about her smile which they say they will never forget and the way she always made sure to check on them. Her neighbors are not the only people who spoke on behalf of her after this event. Her son Wes King wrote a heartbreaking Facebook post sharing with the world how his mother was taken from them.

     Many people who witnessed this mess say that they had never seen so many police cars, ambulances and fire trucks all in one place ever in their life. Nothing like this has been seen before in the community of Collierville so it is no surprise that the entire community was and is in shock.

     This community was already reeling with so much death and pain due to Covid-19 cases in the area. The shooting posed a bigger problem for these hospitals who already did not have enough room for the Covid-19 patients. Emergency medical personnel and the National Guard were called in to the area to help take some weight off of the shoulders of the city.

     These events have become so normal in a society where we have safety precautions in place to prevent things like this. As we can continue to watch events like this unfold and the hearts of so many people in our community and other communities break it just makes you wonder if this will ever stop.