1-year-old boy, grandmother among three dead after a Palm Beach County Publix shooting
Timothy J. Wall, clad in all black, opened fire in a Royal Palm Beach Publix Thursday morning killing a 1-year-old boy and a grandmother before dying himself.
Around 11:40 a.m., deputies responded to the Publix at 1180 Royal Palm Beach Blvd. — where they found the three dead from gunshot wounds in the store’s produce area.
The sheriff’s office identified Wall, a 55-year-old from Royal Palm Beach, as the gunman, the sheriff’s office said. The names of the victims will not be released due to Marsy’s Law. A GoFundMe page has been set up for the funerals of the child and grandmother.
In Palm Beach County, Wall’s criminal record extended to traffic infractions, records show. PBSO said Monday he wasn’t the original buyer of the .45 caliber Springfield XDM pistol used in the killings.
“The interaction between [Wall] and the grandmother might have caused the gun to malfunction, causing the suspect to have to reload,” PBSO said. “It is believe the grandmother may have heped prevent an even worse tragedy from occurring.”
There is no known motive or relationship between Wall and the victims, according to detectives, who noted the investigation is ongoing.
The Publix will remain closed until Saturday, the sheriff’s office said.
Dr. Ron Glassman told West Palm Beach station WPBT that he’d just come out of a nearby bank when he heard yells of “active shooter” and “get out, get out” and saw a stampede of people, waving arms as if to push everybody out of Publix.
“I saw about 50 customers and staff leave in, I would say, about 10 or 15 seconds,” Glassman said. When asked what he thought when he saw the scene, he replied, “I specialize in stress management skills, so I did not get too overwhelmed. Just did some breathing (exercises) that I teach other people to do.”
This developing story will be updated as more is learned.
This story was originally published June 10, 2021 at 1:03 PM.
