Store That Was Scene Of Murder-Suicide To Reopen Today

October 6, 2008

An Atmore store that was the scene of murder-suicide on September 26 will reopen for business on Monday.

Broken windows have been repaired, and the front of the store has been cleaned in preparation for the opening at 9:00 this morning.

Atmore Police said Justin Tyshawn Clark, 22,  entered Hudson’s Dirt Cheap just before 11:00 on September 26 to speak to his girlfriend and mother of his two children, Raphia Shardae Arnold, 21. A Dirt Cheap manager asked him to leave because she was working, police say. He exited the store and returned seconds later and requested that another cashier give him change for a $100 bill so he could give Arnold money to buy clothes for the children.

At that point, Clark then fired one shot, hitting Arnold in the head. He then shot himself in the head.

An Atmore police officer, Sgt. Darrell Holsonback, was outside the store as the shootings occurred. He had stopped near Arnold’s vehicle outside the store because it was parked in a fire lane. While he was exiting his patrol car, he heard gunshots inside the store.

Inside the store, he found Arnold lying on the floor near the front door with a gunshot wound to the head. Clark was found about 15 feet away between two checkout counters at front of the store with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

To read NorthEscambia.com coverage of the events at the Atmore Dirt Cheap, click here.

Pictured above: The Atmore Dirt Cheap store on September 26. NorthEscambia.com file photo.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive