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Victims at Elkhart, Ind., supermarket ID'd as new employee, shopper

ELKHART, Ind., Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The victims of a shooting at a supermarket in Elkhart, Ind., were a young woman who had just started working there and a shopper, police said Thursday.

Their alleged killer, Shawn Walter Bair, 22, was shot dead by police inside the Martin's Super Market, the Chicago Tribune reported. Witnesses said Bair, who lived about 2 miles away, walked into the store shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday and walked around for a while before he started shooting.

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Indiana State Police identified the victims as Krystle Dikes, 20, who had been working as a stocker for less than a month, and Rachelle Godfread, 44, who had moved to Elkhart because her son, Joe, is on the basketball team of the University of Indiana in South Bend.

State Police Sgt. Trent Smith said Bair may have known either Dikes or Godfread.

"Obviously there was some type of planning that went into this," he said.

Bair had no apparent connection with either victim. But the South Bend Tribune said Bair was ordered to pay Martin's $5.89 restitution in 2010.

The South Bend newspaper said Bair had a history of arrests and convictions that suggested problems with addiction and mental illness.

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Smith at a news conference Thursday said Elkhart police fired when Bair pointed a gun at them.

"We are pretty confident that Elkhart's quick response to the scene most definitely saved lives tonight," Smith said.

Police recovered a knife and a large caliber, semiautomatic handgun in the store, WNDU-TV, South Bend, reported.

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