Clark County sheriff’s deputies quickly detained a Wyoming man who they say opened fire inside the Hazel Dell Wal-Mart early Wednesday morning. No one was shot or injured during the incident.
Law enforcement swarmed the Wal-Mart, 9000 N.E. Highway 99, just before 7 a.m. when a 911 caller reported an active shooter at the store, Clark County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Fred Neiman said.
The man was reportedly firing shots near the Subway restaurant, which is inside the store near the front entrance, Neiman said.
Arriving deputies entered the store and quickly detained the accused gunman, Shaun Michael Sprague, 35, of Gillette, Wyo., without further incident, Neiman said. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault and booked into the Clark County Jail.
After they had Sprague in custody, law enforcement searched the store for potential victims and possible accomplices, but none were located, Neiman said.
The store had been open for about an hour when the shooting occurred; employees and shoppers either evacuated the store or sheltered in place by hiding and locking themselves inside, Neiman said.
“It sounds like they did the right thing,” he said.
Jake Bodle, a Subway employee working at the Hazel Dell location Wednesday, said that he spoke with Sprague prior to the shooting.
While Bodle was outside smoking, Sprague approached him and asked him for a cigarette. Bodle declined. Sprague then came into the store and told Bodle he wanted a sandwich. Bodle said they weren’t open yet, but said he’d make him one when they got up and running.
Bodle then heard Sprague ask “if there was a cop shop nearby,” which he said he found odd.
“I went back in the back … when I came back out, I saw him pull out the gun, and he started shooting,” said Bodle, who said he was about 40 feet away. “He was not aiming at anybody in particular, just firing randomly out in the aisles.”
He said that Sprague didn’t seem upset, but that it appeared to him that he may have had some mental health issues. Bodle ran to the back area again as he heard six or seven gunshots ring out.
“At first, I just thought, ‘Is this happening?’ ” he said. “He could come back and kill me at any point.”
He said he tried to call 911 but couldn’t get through. A manager at Wal-Mart, Bodle said, did get through though. He said deputies arrived within five to 10 minutes.
“They took him down pretty quickly,” Bodle said. “They told him to get on the ground, and he put the gun down like he expected to be arrested.”
Bodle said that his boss let him take the rest of the day off, which he spent with his 4-year-old daughter.
“We’re just really fortunate that this just wasn’t a worst situation,” he said.
James Kancewick, 28, was in the store shopping when he heard what sounded like a pallet drop. Then he heard several more in quick succession and peeked around the corner.
“There were two employees hunkered down moving toward, I guess, the safe room,” he said. “I don’t really know the store that well, so I went to back away from where I heard the gunfire and followed the employees into the back room.”
Kancewick said he thought it might be a drill, but he didn’t want to risk it and remained in the room full of nervous people while he tried to stay calm.
When police secured the scene and Kancewick left the store, he said he saw a revolver and a knife on the ground near the Subway restaurant.
The shooting created a tense morning for shoppers, employees working inside and their loved ones.
Colby Bell was awake and at home when he got a text message from his wife, Wal-Mart employee Sierra Bell, 19, about the shooting. He tried to call, but she didn’t answer.
Colby Bell said that all he could think was, “please be OK and answer my damn calls,” he said. “I need to make sure everything’s OK, that’s my wife. I love this woman and there could be something wrong with her.”
His wife then responded with another text that said she couldn’t talk and that she was supposed to be silent.
Colby Bell said the texts he got from his wife read: “I heard three shots and we are in lockdown, cops are here and caught the guy … I am OK though,” he said.
Colby Bell put some clothes on and drove straight to the Wal-Mart. He said he’s happy his wife was OK and added that it put him at ease to see so many officers on the scene, searching cars and making sure everything was safe.
“There’s a plethora of good cops here that are doing their job, working really hard and doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” he said. “I really appreciate that.”
When Sierra Bell finally exited the store, she was met with a big hug from her husband.
The Hazel Dell store re-opened following the incident, and corporate communications for Wal-Mart issued the following statement:
“This is an awful situation. Thankfully, our associates and customers are safe and no one was injured. We are grateful to our management team for their quick thinking in getting customers and associates out of harm’s way, and to the police for their swift action in stopping the suspect.”
Detectives with the Clark County Major Crimes Unit remained on scene throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.
Neiman said that law enforcement have a plan in place for an active-shooter situation and that Wednesday’s incident went as well as it could.
“It’s something we train for and prepare for but that we hope never actually happens,” he said.
