Posey pleaded guilty last month to the shooting, which occurred
last summer at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, a city
of about 3,200 people located 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of
Little Rock.
Judge Spencer Singleton handed down the sentence after testimony
from victims' family members during a hearing in Fordyce.
“You don’t deserve to be part of our story,” Hanna Sturgis said
during the hearing, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Sturgis' father, Roy Sturgis, was killed during the shooting.
Posey, who did not speak during Monday's hearing, has been held
without bond since the shooting and previously pleaded not
guilty to the same charges.
Prosecutors and police have not publicly identified any motive
for Posey, who was shot and injured by officers who exchanged
fire with him. Police have said he did not appear to have a
personal connection to any of the victims.
During the midday shooting, Posey carried a 12-gauge shotgun, a
pistol and a bandolier with dozens of extra shotgun rounds,
authorities said. He fired most, if not all, of the rounds using
the shotgun, opening fire at people in the parking lot before
entering the store and firing “indiscriminately” at customers
and employees, police said. Multiple victims were found inside
the store and in the parking lot, police said.
Posey lived in New Edinburg, a small town of about 150 people
located southeast of Fordyce.
One of the women injured in the shooting has sued Posey, seeking
monetary damages to cover medical care, lost earnings and other
expenses as a result of the shooting. Attorneys for the woman
have requested that a judge enter a default judgment against
Posey, as he has not responded to the complaint. A judge has not
ruled on that request.
The shooting temporarily closed the only grocery store in
Fordyce, prompting food distribution sites to be set up around
the community. The Mad Butcher reopened 11 days after the
shooting.
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