Chaos after deputy shoots man inside Colorado Springs store

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Witnesses described a chaotic scene after shots rang out inside a Hobby Lobby store in Colorado Springs on Friday, sending shoppers and employees scrambling for an emergency exit, setting off an alarm.

One man was shot and injured on Friday by an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy. Police have said little about what caused the shooting.

The name of the victim and his condition were not available.

Customers inside the store said they heard shots and began running when they realized what was going on. People were herded to the back of the store and out through an emergency exit, setting off the alarm.

Laynee and Cheri Blair of Colorado Springs said they were in the store when they heard two shots, and then a third shot after a pause. They ran out of the store along with other shoppers when they realized it was gunfire.

“There was just mass panic, running out the back door,” Laynee Blair said.

Parents and their children took refuge in a nearby store.

Monique Boone said she thought it was thunder or breaking merchandise. “I was freaking out … my husband grabbed me and said ‘go, go, go.’ So we went,” Boone said.

Chris Mannino said he was in the center of the Hobby Lobby when he heard three shots that appeared to come from the front of the store. After the first two shots, he thought something had fallen, he said. It took a few seconds to realize they were gunshots.

A man nearby him told him he was a police officer and told him to get down, he said.

Mannino also fled through the back of the store, where he said employees and customers were disoriented and confused.

Two people said a cruiser hit their car while entering the Hobby Lobby parking lot, but authorities refused to comment.

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com

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