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Woman fatally shot in Wal-Mart by ex-boyfriend

Posted at 10:40 PM, Nov 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-24 22:40:00-05

OCALA, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on a fatal shooting at a Florida Walmart store (all times local):
  
9:25 p.m.
  
A Florida man says the woman shot in a Walmart store was killed by her ex-boyfriend.
  
Scotty Ballard told the Ocala Star-Banner that he was the victim's roommate and they had gone to Walmart on Saturday to buy furnishings for their apartment. He said the victim and the suspect dated for about nine months but were currently apart and had been arguing all day.
  
Ballard says the suspect wanted to get back together, but she did not.
  
The shooting occurred during an apparent domestic dispute in the garden section of a Walmart store in Ocala, which is north of Orlando.
  
Ocala police said in a Facebook post that the suspect, a 55-year-old man, was hospitalized late Saturday afternoon due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
  
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5:20 p.m.
  
Police say they've arrested a 55-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting a woman at a north Florida Walmart store.
  
The Ocala Police Department Facebook page said the man was being taken to a hospital on Saturday afternoon due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
  
The man's name hasn't been released. Police said on social media that the incident began as an apparent domestic incident in the garden section of an Ocala Walmart. The woman screamed for help and employees called 911 and tried to intervene. The man left the store after the shooting.
  
Police said the woman died. Her name hasn't been released, pending notification of family members.
  
No additional details are available.
  
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4:30 p.m.
  
A woman who was shopping in the garden section of a north Florida Walmart store says she turned down an aisle and saw a man standing over a woman, firing several shots at her.
  
Colleen Wade tells the Ocala Star-Banner the man then calmly left the store on Saturday afternoon. When she got outside the Walmart in Ocala she saw the man riding a bicycle away from the store.
  
Ocala police said on social media that the man and woman were involved in an argument before the shooting took place shortly before 3 p.m. The woman screamed for help and store employees called 911 and tried to intervene. The woman died at a hospital.
  
No other shoppers or employees were injured.
  
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4 p.m.
  
Police say a man fatally shot a woman during an apparent domestic argument that started in the garden center of a north Florida Walmart store.
  
The Ocala Police Department Facebook page said the woman went inside the store after the shooting on Saturday afternoon, screaming for help. Personnel at the store called police and attempted to intervene but the woman died.
  
The man fled and officers are searching for him.
  
The name of the woman hasn't been released, pending notification of her family.
  
No further details were immediately available.