Indiana Walmart gunman targeted employees at meeting, left suicide note: police

The Indiana gunman who shot an employee at a Walmart before being killed by responding officers left a suicide note behind and intended to die, authorities said.

The suspect, identified as Ronald Ray Mosley II, 25, by the Evansville Police Department, was killed by responding police officers, police Sgt. Anna Gray said during a Friday news conference. At least one female employee was shot and taken to a hospital for treatment. 

Authorities responded Thursday to the Walmart over reports of an active shooter around 10 p.m. Inside the store, there were around 40 employees and 40 shoppers, Gray said. 

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Mosley walked into a store office where employees had gathered for a meeting and told everyone to line up against a wall and shot the female with a 9 mm handgun, police said. At that moment, another female employee fled the room and called 911. When Mosley left the room to target a male employee who also ran out of the room, the female employee who fled ran back in to help the victim into another room and locked the door.

“I have no doubt that he was going back to finish what he started and we would probably have a dead victim today instead of one that’s alive,” Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin said.

Responding officers were at the Walmart within minutes of the shooting, Gray said. She said “well over” 70 Evansville police officers and 20 Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s deputies descended on the scene, as well as other law enforcement agencies. 

Mosley was confronted as he was leaving the store. He went back inside and was killed during a gunfire exchange with officers. Seven Evansville police officers and a Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s deputy fired their weapons, Gray said. She did not know how many rounds were fired. 

“When officers went in, they were trying to locate the suspect and he was all over the store. He would shoot at officers and move. So it wasn’t contained to just one area inside,” she said.

Mosley left a “suicide by cop” note and intended to die, Bolin said. Had he lived, he would have faced a slew of criminal charges, including multiple counts of attempted murder and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, authorities said.  

Authorities have not yet determined how Mosley acquired the handgun used in the shooting. 

Mosley was charged with four misdemeanor counts of battery in May after he allegedly attacked four co-workers at the Walmart store, according to court records obtained by the Evansville Courier & Press. A probable cause affidavit filed in the case states that Mosley told police he had issues with people at work and “lost control.”

  

He was walking through the store in May when he reportedly passed a fellow worker and called him a “snake.” When the coworker told Mosley to “grow up,” Mosley reportedly punched the worker in the face and threw him to the ground, records show. 

He also attacked three other co-workers and was fired from the big-box chain store after the incident. The case was deferred to Vanderburgh County’s mental health court where he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery charges. 

Hours before the shooting, he appeared in court for a progress hearing. In a statement, Walmart said it was “shocked by the senseless violence that occurred at our Evansville store.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.