First call to MetroSafe came in at 2:54 p.m. Wednesday

2 people are dead and their identities haven't been released

An unidentified suspect is in custody.

This story has been updated.

Eric Deacon was paying for his groceries Wednesday afternoon at Kroger just off Hurstbourne Parkway when he heard "a loud bang." It sounded like a wood pallet slamming to the floor.

That's when he saw a man in a neon sweatshirt racing past him, firing a gun back toward another man who was chasing him. Deacon hit the ground, and soon the men were shooting back and forth at each other in the parking lot.

"About that time, a lady came around the corner and got hit," said Deacon, an EMT who shielded himself from gunfire in the front of the store behind a wall as he spoke to 911.

After police arrived, Deacon went over to administer CPR to the woman.

"When I looked at her, she was gone," he said. "There was nothing I could do."

The violence that unfolded on Wednesday at a Kroger grocery store in a busy Jeffersontown shopping center left two people dead, a suspect in custody and police searching for a motive.

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Shortly before 3 p.m., the suspect - identified as Gregory Bush - entered Kroger and shot one man inside, then fled to the parking lot and shot a woman, said Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Bush, 51, also exchanged gunfire with an armed citizen in the parking lot, but neither was shot nor wounded, according to police. Deacon said police arrived and confronted one of the men, who dropped his gun and got on the ground.

He was caught by police a short time later on Hurstbourne Parkway in "close proximity" to the store. Some witnesses pointed to a Honda surrounded by police tape and cruisers nearby.

Bush was booked into Metro Corrections on Thursday. He is facing two counts of murder and 10 counts of wanton endangerment.

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Rogers said he wasn't sure if the man inside the store was targeted but that it appeared the woman killed in the parking lot was a random victim.

The first call came into MetroSafe at 2:54 p.m. reporting that shots were fired inside the store and that there were reports of "multiple injuries."

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Tim King said his wife called him while she was shopping and said she heard multiple gunshots. She said people started running and an employee directed them to the back of the store.

Elaine Harrell was in the produce department asking a Kroger employee where she could find Northern beans for her white chili recipe when she heard loud noises and then people screaming and shouting.

She ran — with her cart — out the front door along with other panicked shoppers.

Outside, she stood and tried to comfort a distraught Kroger employee. But then, she said, she heard the shooting start again outside in the parking lot and ran back inside.

After police had secured the scene, Racheal Huggins showed up to find her daughter, a store employee. Her daughter had taken shelter in a dressing room and was talking to her on her cell phone before they lost contact. "She could hear the shots," said Huggins, who found her daughter safe.

Kroger released a statement saying it is "shocked and saddened by the shooting incident that occurred around 2:30 p.m." It said Kroger is cooperating with law enforcement and that the store is closed and will reopen after the investigation concludes.

One of the victims in Wednesday's shooting was the father of Mayor Greg Fischer's chief equity officer, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation but who are not authorized to speak publicly. The male victim, Maurice Stallard, is the father of Kellie Watson, who has served in the mayor's office for several years.

The woman victim was identified as Vickie Lee Jones by the Jefferson County coroner's office Thursday.

The FBI released a statement late Wednesday, saying it is "currently assisting the Jeffersontown Police Department in the ongoing investigation into the shooting."

"FBI Louisville is evaluating the evidence to determine if there were any violations of federal law," the release stated, adding that Rogers would have an update on the investigation Thursday morning.

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Ed Harrell, a Louisville resident, said he came face-to-face with the shooter outside the Kroger. He had a revolver and crouched down next to his car. Harrell saw the shooter and called out to ask what was going on. The gunman replied: “Don’t shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don’t shoot whites."

Wednesday evening, police continued to investigate, and the parking lot remained bound by yellow police tape. Employees at nearby stores shared stories of seeing gunfire, worried phone calls from relatives and a body being hauled away.

Deacon said he, too, doesn't know what could have motivated the shooting.

"I just know the look on that guy's face. It was like a blank stare ... like he didn't have a care in the world," he said. "I never thought this would happen in J-town. I never thought."

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Billy Kobin, Darcy Costello, Allison Ross, Matt Glowicki, Phillip Bailey and Thomas Novelly contributed reporting.

Chris Kenning: ckenning@courierjournal.com; 502-396-3361.