Man kills woman, shoots self at Fort Lewis store

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A 59-year-old retired soldier shot a female civilian worker to death Wednesday inside a bustling store at the Fort Lewis Army base, then shot himself, Army officials said. The man later died at a hospital.

Joe Kubistek, a Fort Lewis spokesman, said the woman was a civilian working at the store and that the 59-year-old man was a soldier from Lakewood, Wash., who retired from the Army in 1992.

The Army did not release the identity of the man or woman because family had not been notified.

The relationship between the two wasn’t known, nor was a motive for the shootings.

After the shooting, the man was hospitalized in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his head. He died at an Army hospital around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

In a release, the Army said military police responded to calls of shots fired at the Fort Lewis Post Exchange around 11:20 a.m. Though the post was busy with a lunchtime crowd, no one else was injured, officials said.

Military police responded within minutes, and the store was evacuated. It remained closed pending the investigation, Army Maj. Mike Garcia said.

The FBI has assumed the lead in the investigation and is collaborating with Fort Lewis authorities as well as U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.