Gun-toting suspect apprehended
In a bizarre incident, a Winfield woman was arrested inside the Oneida Wal-Mart Supercenter Monday morning after allegedly toting a loaded high-powered rifle into the store.
Alyssa Russ, 20, of Winfield, was apprehended by Oneida Police Department Sgt. John Terry inside the store late Monday morning. Russ was allegedly in possession of a loaded and cocked .30-30 rifle. Authorities say that Russ was planning to commit “suicide by cop,” by provoking an officer into shooting her.
OPD dispatchers received a 911 call from a customer inside Wal-Mart just before noon Monday, reporting that a woman wearing a black hoodie and carrying a rifle had entered the store through the grocery-side entrance.
Officers were dispatched to the store, as dispatchers continued to talk with the caller. Contact was lost moments later, and authorities would later say that the caller was Russ herself.
OPD Officer Shonda Duncan had entered the store through the grocery-side entrance. Meanwhile, Sgt. Terry — who was already in the store — overheard the radio transmission and began making his way toward the front of the store.
As Sgt. Terry passed the Infant & Toddler department, authorities say, he heard a female calling to him. Turning, he found himself face-to-face with the suspect, who was allegedly holding the rifle.
Terry immediately acted, knocking the weapon from Russ as the two struggled.
On the social website MySpace.Com, Russ says that she is an employee of the store.
Oneida Police Chief Mike Cross said that Russ told officers that she was upset with store management and wanted her co-workers to see her die. Allegedly, she had left a pair of suicide notes before entering the store.
“She told us that she wanted to die and she was going to make a cop shoot her,” Chief Cross said. “She told [Sgt. Terry] that she didn’t intend to hurt him; she just wanted to make him shoot her.”
Russ was charged with carrying a weapon with the intent to go armed, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault and resisting arrest. After booking at the Oneida Police Department, she was transported to Lakeshore Mental Health Institute for an evaluation.
Authorities were baffled by the fact that no customer in the parking lot of the store — where Russ allegedly fired a shot from the rifle before entering — or inside the store had called 911 to report a gun-toting customer.
“It just amazed everybody,” Chief Cross said, adding that the only 911 call that was received was from Russ herself, who apparently managed to fire a round outside the store, enter the store and walk freely from the front entrance to the Infant & Toddler section without another employee or customer becoming suspicious.
Russ was scheduled to be arraigned in General Sessions Court yesterday (Wednesday).