Texas Store Employee Killed While Loading Groceries in Car

A grocery store employee in Texas was killed in an apparently accidental shooting in the store’s parking lot. According to local media reports, the worker at Crump's Food Center in Linden, Texas, was loading groceries into a customer’s vehicle on Friday, Sept. 22 and stopped briefly to pet a dog when the animal moved and allegedly stepped on a .22 rifle; the gun then discharged, and the bullet hit the worker in the chest.

The incident remains under investigation by the Linden Police Department, which issued a statement identifying the worker as 39-year-old Larry Lawrence. “It is unclear of the means of discharge at this time. We would like to relay our deepest condolences to Lawrence’s loved ones,” said Chief David Dulude.

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The owner of the independent Crump’s Food Center, Chris Spencer, shared a statement on the grocer’s Facebook page shortly after the shooting. “A tragedy has taken place at Crump’s Food Center. We lost a fine young man…We ask for prayers for this young man’s family,” Spencer wrote.

Spencer started a GoFundMe page for Lawrence, sharing that “East Texans are the most generous people on Earth.” That online fundraiser has raised more than $7,100 as of press time.

Other essential grocery workers have been killed by gunfire this year when performing their duties. In July, an employee was shot while stocking shelves inside Jefferson Food Market in Philadelphia. Also that month, an associate at a Mariano’s store in a suburb outside of Chicago was shot by her boyfriend in a storage room while at work.