A trip to Costco to pick up steak and lobsters for Father's Day turned into mayhem for Nikki Tate and scores of other shoppers when shots rang out, leaving one dead and two injured inside the store in Corona, California.

Tate said she was by the meat section Friday when she heard “about six or seven shots.” She dropped to the ground and crawled toward her daughter, who was at the other end. They huddled until they and more than 100 others were able to escape.

Inside, Kenneth French, 32, of Riverside lay dead next to two of his relatives, who remain in critical condition.

French was shot after he attacked an off-duty Corona police officer who was holding his child, according to the Corona Police Department. The officer, whose name is being withheld, suffered minor injuries and was released; his child was not injured.

Corona is an inland Southern California suburb about 50 east of downtown Los Angeles. Police have opened an investigation.

Not surprisingly, the sounds of shots ringing out inside the cavernous bulk-shopping store caused shoppers to panic. Many stampeded for the doors, and others dived for safety amid the aisles stocked with food and household items.

Witnesses said they saw a man with a Mohawk haircut arguing with someone near a freezer section when shots thundered at least six times.

Shrieks from inside the store were heard on video recorded by shopper Tate, who had her daughter in tow.

“I saw people and heard shots and my first thought was, ‘Jesus, is this another mass shooting?’” she said. “I didn’t know if this was a random thing or a domestic thing or if this was a mass shooting. Everything was happening so fast, I just wanted to get me and my kid to safety.”

In the video, her daughter says, “Mommy, we need to go.”

Christina Colis told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that she was in the produce area when she heard six to seven shots and hid with other shoppers in a refrigerated produce room. She said her mother saw people injured on the floor.

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“I thought maybe someone dropped a bottle of wine, but then I kept hearing shots,” Will Lungo told the Press-Enterprise newspaper. “An employee came in and helped us out through the emergency exit.”

Witnesses told KCAL-TV that shoppers and employees rushed to the exits. The station reported that more than 100 people were outside the store at one point. Left behind inside the store were purses, cellphones and backpacks from panicked shoppers, Corona police said.

The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement Saturday that it was launching its own investigation into the shooting.

Lt. Jeff Edwards of the Corona Police Department told reporters just after the incident that police believed the shooting resulted from a dispute of some kind.

"From my understanding, from some people we talked to, there was apparently an argument inside," Edwards said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Is this another mass shooting?' Panic at Corona, Calif., Costco as off-duty cop kills man