Grocery store worker is killed when ex-husband shoots her and himself, Ohio cops say

An employee at an Ohio grocery store was shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide involving her ex-husband, police say.

The shooting happened around 9:35 a.m. Sunday, June 25, inside a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmsted, Police Chief Bob Wagner said in a news briefing streamed by WJW.

Police responded to the store within a minute, and officers found the bodies of the victim and shooter.

“I was just shopping all of a sudden heard one pop, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if that was a pallet or something,’ but then I heard two, three, four pops, and I was like ‘No this place is getting shot up,” Sammy Assaf told WEWS.

Wagner said 63-year-old Susan Peterson, who has worked at the store for more than three years, was shot by her ex-husband, 60-year-old Bernard Edward Smith. The ex-husband then shot himself, police said.

Peterson and Smith divorced in 2004, Wagner said.

“We don’t believe it was a very amicable divorce,” the police chief said in the news briefing.

There were 67 employees working at the store and around 200 customers inside at the time of the shooting, according to Wagner. No one else was injured.

“This isn’t a Giant Eagle problem, this isn’t a City of North Olmsted problem,” Wagner said at the briefing. “This type of incident can happen anywhere at anytime.”

North Olmsted Mayor Nicole Daily Jones said in a statement she was “deeply saddened” about the shooting.

“First and foremost, my heart goes out to the victim of this tragedy and her family and friends,” Jones said. “I know all North Olmsted residents join me in sending their prayers and support to them.”

Giant Eagle will be closed Monday, the mayor said.

In a statement to WKYC, the grocery store said it was grateful “for the quick response of local authorities.”

“We are shocked and deeply saddened that such a senseless act of violence occurred in one of our stores,” Giant Eagle said.

North Olmsted is about 20 miles southwest of Cleveland.

Up to 600 murder-suicides happen each year, according to the FBI. They account for between 1,000 and 1,500 deaths a year.

“Although uncommon, such incidents vary widely in terms of the persons involved, how they are related, and where the crimes take place,” the FBI reported. “Usually, law enforcement personnel deal with murder-suicides involving two people in domestic settings or relationships.”

About 65% of murder-suicides involve intimate partners, officials said, and 81% happen in the home.

This story was originally published June 26, 2023 at 6:51 AM with the headline "Grocery store worker is killed when ex-husband shoots her and himself, Ohio cops say."