Surveillance Video A Big Role In Frisco Wal-Mart Shooting Case
FRISCO (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Frisco are hopeful they will get a break in the case of a man shot to death Wednesday night in a very public place -- near a new Wal-Mart.
Authorities have a couple "persons of interest" in mind and hope to wrap up the investigation soon. The reviewing of evidence began right away since the stores new, modern surveillance system caught a lot on tape.
Police say they answered a possible "shots fired" call at an intersection near the Wal-Mart. The car reportedly involved in the incident pulled into the parking lot and into camera view. One man got out of a black Mercedes and ran inside the store; police discovered another man, shot and wounded, inside vehicle. He died at a local hospital.
The other man, who fled into the Wal-Mart, went straight through the store, setting off a fire alarm as he went out a back door. His trek through the store was caught on camera and police spent Thursday reviewing it.
"So we have a lot of great evidence. Detectives are sifting through trying to identify possible witnesses," explained Frisco Police Department spokesman Sgt. Adam Henderson.
Meantime, Mike Riccio, the president of the homeowners association behind the Wal-Mart, says he accidentally stumbled onto the police investigation.
"I was driving in the neighborhood and saw police cruisers checking out the neighborhood," he said. "There were a couple of residents that saw a person fleeing in their backyard, but they were not apprehended."
Riccio says the neighbors didn't see the man close enough to identify him.
Many residents near the new Wal-Mart had originally fought having the retail giant on their back step, fearing an uptick in crime.
Riccio says until now the store has been a good neighbor and he doesn't believe the murder was connected. "I think this was a random incident that I hope won't happen again," he said.
Police also don't feel the store and the crime are connected. In fact, authorities credit Wal-Mart with providing them very good visual evidence to review.
"So we have a lot of great evidence detectives are sifting through, trying to identify possible witnesses, trying to hurry up all the information provided by eyewitnesses through what the surveillance video provided," explained Henderson.
