At least 11 people are being treated by local hospitals after a mass stabbing at Walmart in Traverse City on Saturday, July 26, and a suspect is in custody, Michigan State Police said on social media Saturday afternoon.
Munson Healthcare in northern Michigan confirmed that “11 victims are being treated at Munson Medical Center” in connection to the indicent. “As a result, our Emergency Department is currently experiencing a higher-than-usual volume of patients,” it said.
Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that all 11 victims are alive and 3 are in surgery. “Shea confirmed that the victims were injured in a random attack by an assailant who was armed with folding knife,” the Record-Eagle reported.
Police are telling people to “please avoid the area as the investigation is ongoing.”
Kim Harris, a spokesperson for Walmart, told USA TODAY in an email that the company is “working with police and right now will defer questions to them.”
Traverse City, which the U.S. Census Bureau reports has a population of nearly 16,000, is in northern Michigan, about 150 miles north of Grand Rapids and 255 miles northwest of Detroit.
Jonathan Limehouse of USA TODAY contributed.
This is a developing story.