Travis Posey, the man responsible for the June 2024 mass shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, pleaded guilty to four counts of capital murder on Monday in a courtroom in Camden. Posey also pleaded guilty to 11 counts of attempted murder.
Initially, Posey pleaded not guilty, and the state planned to take him to trial on Aug. 4. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Grant Lancaster, who was on the scene at the Ouachita County courthouse, writes that Posey changed his plea on Monday in return for the state seeking life sentences for the four murder convictions and 20 years for each attempted murder conviction.
On June 21, 2024, Posey was apprehended by police at the scene of the crime after he engaged in a firefight with officers. He had been firing indiscriminately at bystanders in the store and parking lot with a 12-gauge shotgun.
His sentencing hearing will be on Aug. 4, where Judge Spencer Singleton will decide if the life sentences will be served concurrently or consecutively.
As recently as June, the state had indicated it might seek the death penalty for the capital murder charges.
Posey was convicted of murdering Ellen Shrum, 81; Callie Weems, 23; Roy Sturgis, 50; and Shirley Taylor, 63. Weems is survived by a 10-month-old daughter whose GoFundMe page was set up by family and friends.
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