The incredibly selfless act of a nurse who was shot during a shooting at an Arkansas supermarket has been revealed, with the new mother now being hailed as a hero.
Callie Weems, 23, was one of four people killed and 11 injured in the shooting shortly before noon Friday at the Mad Butcher supermarket in Fordyce, a city of 3,200 about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Little Rock.
When the alleged shooter, 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey of New Edinburg, opened fire inside the store, Weems rushed to help another person who was hit.
While she had the chance to escape the gunman, her attempts to render aid to a total stranger will now be remembered as her last act before becoming a victim herself.
Weems’ response to help was instinctive, coming from a family of three generations of nurses.
An Arkansas nurse, Callie Weems, 23, who was embroiled in a mass shooting at a supermarket, had the chance to escape the shooter but instead stopped to help another victim
Four people were killed and ten injured in a shooting at a supermarket in Fordyce, Arkansas
“Rather than flee the store, she stopped to render aid in one of the most selfless acts I have ever seen,” Col. Mike Hagar, director of the Arkansas State Police, said of the nurse.
As panicked bystanders ducked and took cover amid a barrage of gunfire, Weems stayed behind to help.
“Rather than run from the obvious danger, Callie Weems began using her training as a nurse to provide aid to a gunshot victim in one of the most selfless acts I have ever seen,” said Col. Mike Hagar, director of the Arkansas State Police. The nurse said, applauding her actions.
Her father, Tommy Weems, told the story Arkansas Democratic Gazette: ‘She died doing what she always does: helping.
‘There is no manual for this. These are the first tears I shed. There is anger and sadness, pain. It doesn’t come in any order. Your world as you know it is ending.”
Weems enjoyed her new role as a mother in the months before the gunman took her life and cared for 10-month-old baby Ivy Mae.
“He has taken a very special person out of this world,” added distraught father Tommy.
Weems’ devastated mother, Helen Browning, said she initially believed her daughter was safe because she turned on her location tracker when she heard about the mass shooting and saw she was in hospital.
“I’m thinking, ‘She’s at work.’ She came to help,’” Browning said Fox16.
Callie Weems had recently become a mother and adored her ten-month-old daughter
Callie Weems seemed to be a natural mother when she was in love with little baby Ivy Mae
On the morning of the shooting, Weems had been surprised that her little girl had let her sleep in until 9 a.m. that morning.
Weems had been surprised that her little girl had let her sleep in until nine in the morning.
“I bet you feel like a new mom,” Browning recalled as he texted back. It was the last conversation they had.
But she said her fears arose when she couldn’t get a hold of her daughter, and said the tragic truth dawned on her as she rushed to the scene with Weem’s stepfather, Bruce Grice.
“My best friend was standing there and I said, ‘Kristie, tell me my baby is okay.’ and she said, ‘I can’t do it.’” Browning said, “And then I just broke down.”
The suspected gunman, identified as 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey, was wounded during a shootout with police and will be charged with four counts of murder, officials said.
Investigators have yet to determine a motive for what Hagar called a “completely random, senseless act.”
Browning mourned the loss of Weems and revealed that she also knew Posey since he was a child.
“I just want to know why Joey Posey woke up this morning and decided he had to go and ruin the lives of families,” she asked.
Browning said Posey went to school with her youngest sister, and she never thought he could do something so violent.
She plans to raise Ivy now.
“She’ll know her mother loved her,” she said. “And that she was the sunshine of mommy’s eyes.”
a GoFundMe was set up to raise money for the baby and pay for funeral costs.
Weems’ heartbroken mother said after her death, “I just want to know why Joey Posey woke up this morning and decided he had to go and ruin the lives of families?”
Callie Weems is seen next to her mother, Helen Browning, left, who will now raise her baby
Law enforcement officers work the scene of a shooting at the Mad Butcher supermarket
Col. Mike Hagar, center, on stage, answers media questions during a news conference Sunday about Friday’s deadly shooting at an Arkansas supermarket
Cell phone footage captured Posey in the parking lot with a long gun, allegedly shooting into the Mad Butcher store and at police who arrived on the scene.
Hagar said the shooter began shooting randomly in the parking lot and then into the store, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and a handgun, firing mostly buckshot.
Police said Sunday that Posey’s motive was still unclear, but that he did not appear to have a personal connection to any of the victims.
“During the incident, we observed the very best and the worst of humanity,” Hagar said, praising the six responding police officers who placed themselves between the gunman and civilians.
Two of the injured were officers, police said.
A total of four people were shot dead and nine injured. Authorities say the motive for the massacre remains unclear
Travis Posey, 44, has been identified by police as the alleged shooter in the shooting. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after being hit during a shootout with police
Hagar said the officers and officers who responded to the scene knew the shooter and the victims, making the attack particularly difficult and personal.
Police said Posey, who was in custody at the Ouachita County Detention Center, will be charged with four counts of murder.
In addition to Weems, the fatalities were identified as Shirley Taylor, 62, Roy Sturgis, 50, and Ellen Shrum, 81.
The surviving victims range in age from 20 to 65 years old.