A Virginia woman was shot and killed on Wednesday after she stopped handing out samples and began waving a knife around in a threatening manner.
The woman, identified as 38-year old Mhai Scott, reportedly began acting strangely and was saying odd things as she neared the end of her shift. Her supervisor became frightened and called police. When they got there, they found Scott erratically waving a knife and a pair of scissors around in a threatening way, so they tried to subdue her with a stun gun. When that didn’t work–and she came at a deputy with the weapons–they opened fire.
“Everyone was running out of the building not knowing what was going on,” customer Robert Krause said. ”I was a little scared so I got out of there pretty quick.”
One of the officers was wounded after a bullet ricocheted and hit him in the leg, but he is expected to recover. Police say they have no clues as to why the woman suddenly became agitated.
“It’s a tragic situation,” Sheriff Michael Chapman said. “I feel for everybody involved.”
Scott reportedly worked for Club Demonstration Services and was in charge of food prep and sampling at the store.