A news conference was held Friday afternoon by the Evansville Police Department and Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office to share details of the shooting Thursday night at the west side Walmart in Evansville.
According to the EPD when the shooting began around 10 p.m., officers rushed into the building according to their training.
By the time officers arrived the sole victim — a woman — had been shot by a former employee Ronald Ray Mosley II, 25, at the start of the nightly employee meeting. Mosley is a former employee who had previously been fired.
Officers exchanged gunfire with Mosley twice, before he was shot by police.
Mosley was the only casualty; none of the officers were injured and the EPD believes there was only one severe injury.
That employee was flown to a hospital for care, according to Sgt. Anna Gray.
“I believe she is up in Indy, is the latest update I got. Also her condition is that she is still being treated and is in stable condition. However, she will be affected by the shooting for the rest of her life and as the other victims involved as well, I'm sure.”
Mosley left a suicide not at his home which was found by police, which they describe as “heartbreaking.” He had been in the care of the mental health court, and was guilty of battery against two Walmart employees last year.
At the news conference, EPD Chief Billy Bolin quickly singled out Walmart manager Heather Moore for her bravery.
Bolin says Moore silently escaped the room containing the shooter when his back was turned, to call 911.
“After the suspect shot the female, there was a male in there that he was also an intended target. He took off running. Heather sees the suspect going out of the area. So she goes back in the room. The victim is in there, she helps get the victim up, gets her out of the room, takes her into another room, locks the door, turns off the lights and hid behind some computer equipment.”
There were no other injuries except for the victim and shooter.
“And we would probably have a dead victim today instead of one that's alive,” Bolin said. “So in my eyes, I think Heather Moore is an absolute hero. I'm not one that throws out the term hero a lot.”
Approximately 70 EPD officers were on scene and 20 sheriff’s deputies. The investigation is ongoing.
Details of the ordeal
The shooting was Thursday night at 9:59 PM, just as a nightly staff meeting was about to begin. Mosely II, the shooter, entered the room.
Gray says he then brandished a 9 millimeter pistol and told the assembled employees — about 12 — to line up against the wall. Mosely singled out one male and one female, and shot her.
At that point Moore snuck out of the room to call 911.
The bulk of the detained employees fled after she was shot. Gray said there were about 40 employees in the store and 40 customers. Some of which remained in the building during the episode.
The EPD arrived on scene and immediately entered the building. The Sheriff’s office was also there. Overall about 90 police officers arrived.
Mosley exchanged gunfire with police as he attempted to exit the building via the electronics section.
A second exchange was fatal — Mosely was killed by police. Seven EPD officers and one deputy fired on Mosley.
Police gave control of the store back to employees at 5 a.m., but the Walmart remains closed.
There are several questions police are working on, such as motive, as they pour over the high amount of body cam and store footage to recreate the scene.
The shooting lasted approximately 12 minutes.
Gray said there have been active shooting incidents before.
"We did have one at Diamond and Kentucky, it was actually open an open air type of active threat where somebody was out shooting, shooting at people and we had to deal with him outside of a building."
She mentioned one at a VFW hall a couple years ago.