Off-duty LAPD cop shoots dead man who attacked him while he was carrying his child in Costco
- Police say Kenneth French, 32, assaulted a Los Angeles Police Department officer Friday night inside a Costco in Corona
- The officer, who hasn’t been named, fired his gun at French following an altercation that witnesses say took place in the freezer section
- French was killed and two of his relatives were injured after being hit by gunfire
- The officer, who was carrying his young child at the time, wasn’t injured
- The shooting prompted a stampede of frightened shoppers to flee the store
An off-duty police officer who was carrying his young child in a California Costco store ended up shooting and killing a man who attacked him, authorities say.
Kenneth French, 32, assaulted the Los Angeles Police Department officer Friday night while he was holding his young child inside the Costco Wholesale warehouse store in Corona.
Police said the officer, who hasn’t been named, fired his gun at French following an altercation that witnesses say took place in the freezer section.
French was killed and two of his relatives were injured after being struck by gunfire.
The relatives are in critical conditions at hospitals.
An off-duty police officer who was carrying his young child in a Costco store in Corona on Friday night ended up shooting and killing a man who attacked him, authorities say
The officer was treated and released at a nearby hospital and the officer’s child was not injured.
Police said the off-duty officer was the only one who fired shots in the store.
The shooting prompted a stampede of frightened shoppers to flee the store east of Los Angeles and seek cover inside.
Witnesses said they saw a man with a Mohawk haircut arguing with someone in the freezer section when shots rang out at least six times.
Corona police Lt. Jeff Edwards said the man involved in the argument was the one who was killed.
Shoppers and employees have since described terror and chaos when the shots rang out.
Shrieks from inside the store were heard on video recorded by shopper Nikki Tate, who had stopped by with her daughter to pick up steaks and lobsters for Father’s Day.
Tate said Saturday she was by the meat section when she heard ‘about six or seven shots’.
French was killed and two of his relatives were injured after being struck by gunfire. The relatives are in critical conditions at hospitals
The shooting prompted a stampede of frightened shoppers to flee the store east of Los Angeles and seek cover inside
She dropped to the ground and crawled toward her daughter who was at the other end. They huddled until they were able to escape through a side door.
‘I saw people and heard shots and my first thought was ‘Jesus, is this another mass shooting?” she said.
‘I didn’t know if this was a random thing or a domestic thing or if this was a mass shooting. Everything was happening so fast, I just wanted to get me and my kid to safety.’
In the video, her daughter says, ‘Mommy, we need to go.’
Meanwhile, Christina Colis told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that she was in the produce area when she heard six to seven shots and hid with other shoppers in a refrigerated produce room.
She said her mother saw people injured on the floor.
‘I thought maybe someone dropped a bottle of wine, but then I kept hearing shots,’ shopper Will Lungo told the Press-Enterprise newspaper.
‘An employee came in and helped us out through the emergency exit.’
Witnesses told KCAL-TV that shoppers and employees rushed to the exits.
The station reported that more than 100 people were outside the store at one point.
Police said purses, cellphones and backpacks were left inside the store as panicked shoppers fled.
Police said purses, cellphones and backpacks were left inside the store as panicked shoppers fled
Heavily armed police officers exit the Costco following a shooting inside the wholesale warehouse in Corona on Friday night