Shooter kills Target cashier, commits suicide

A 59-year-old worker at Super Target in Apex was gunned down by an ex-boyfriend at the store on Sunday morning, police said. The shooter then killed himself when confronted by police.

At around 11:35 a.m., police responded to reports of an active shooter in Target, at 1201 Beaver Creek Commons Drive, Apex police Capt. Ann Stephens said.

They found Guadalupe F. Rosas, of Apex, fatally shot in the front of the store.

Witness Justin Ley said he was in the checkout line at the store when he heard a gunshot. He said Rosas fell on the ground beside him and he locked eyes with her gunman.

“I said, 'calm down, calm down.' I must have said it 15 times. I just didn’t want him (shooter) to maybe come after me as well," Ley said. “It just didn’t seem like a situation that anybody would be effective at trying to intervene with.”

Ley said the shooter pointed a handgun at him and ordered everyone to get out of the store.

“It was such a pandemonium at the door that we were all getting shoved into the plate-glass windows," Ley said.

Cynthia Freeman scratched her arm in a mad dash to leave the store. Three others were hurt, including one person who suffered a bone fracture, Stephens said.

When police arrived there were still 150 people in the store hiding and the shooter was still inside.

"The suspect was standing there with a handgun. Our officers challenged the suspect to put down the handgun. At the time, he turned the weapon on himself and shot and killed himself," Stephens said.

Stephens said Rosas and the shooter had been a relationship that ended in 2005. The two had stayed in contact since then. 

Rosas had been working at Target for about two years and is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren.

The shooter has been identified, but authorities are not releasing his name pending notification of his family.

The store was evacuated and nearby businesses were put on lock-down directly following the shooting.

Police interviewed about 40 witnesses in a nearby Lowes store Sunday afternoon. Anyone who saw anything but left Target prior to police's arrival should contact Apex police at 919-362-8661.

Target was closed on Sunday, Stephens said.