Georgia shootout started after customer was asked to wear face mask: police

Authorities said an argument over a customer being asked to wear a face mask led to a fatal shootout in Georgia.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued a statement on Monday that a customer identified as Victor Lee Tucker Jr. got into a verbal altercation with a Big Bear supermarket cashier in Decatur, Ga., over the mask requirement.

Authorities said that Tucker left the store and returned with his handgun where they say he shot and killed the cashier, and exchanged gunfire with an Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was working off-duty at the store as a security guard.

Both Tucker and the off-duty officer were wounded in the gun battle along with a second female cashier who was grazed by a bullet. DeKalb County Police officers arrested Tucker while he was attempting to leave the scene.

The cashier, later identified as 41-year-old Laquitta Willis, died at a nearby hospital from her injuries, according to The Washington Post.

Tucker, 30, and the off-duty officer identified as 54-year-old Danny Jordan were both transported to nearby hospitals where they were treated for their injuries. 

The owner of the store, Ray Kim, told NBC-affiliate WXIA that Willis was a “ kind and loving woman.”

“She is just a very cautious person, so she had asked him to pull up his mask. He refused and walked out, came back in, and did that,” Kim told the NBC News affiliate.

“Our country must do more to acknowledge the real and present dangers these workers continue to face on the front lines of the pandemic,” a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) spokesperson told The Hill.

“As the union for essential food and retail workers, the UFCW is calling on leaders to address the safety threats and concerns of essential workers and act promptly to ensure that these workers and the communities they serve will be protected.”

This incident comes as the U.S. is seeing a wave of mass shootings in 2021. In March, a shooting spree at three Atlanta-area spas left eight people dead.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said an investigation into Monday’s shooting is ongoing.

The Hill has reached out to the DeKalb County Police Department for comment.