Luke casually said, "I'll leave this task to you."
The direction of this investigation is not wrong, and if luck is on our side, we might indeed find the shooter's whereabouts.
However, the investigation process will have so difficulties. First, the shooter entered the supermarket fully ard, wrapped tightly from head to toe, and no one knows his true appearance.
Second, the shooter deliberately broke the caras, preventing the police from using surveillance to track him down.
Third, there was panic around the supermarket at the ti, and the custors were all fleeing in chaos. In such a crisis, many people's mories are confused.
In summary, it might take so ti to track down this shooter.
Luke also examined the shooter's equipnt. The shooter was wearing gloves and left no fingerprints, and there were no special marks on the equipnt. He could only hand this equipnt over to the tech team for processing, hoping for new discoveries.
Luke continued to investigate inside the supermarket. The supermarket is divided into two floors, covering about over 2,000 square ters. Plus, with many goods and a ssy cri scene, investigating the scene was also a huge task.
The bodies of several victims who died on site were still there. So many deaths at once made even the forensic doctor busy, and Luke walked to each body to check—so were n, so were won, so were elderly, and so were young. They all had one common feature: they were Black.
Based on the existing evidence and clues, the motive and thod of the cri are not difficult to guess.
The perpetrator is likely a white supremacist who hated Black people so intensely that he decided to massacre at a supermarket in a Black community.
Luke speculated that this killer shouldn't be too old, based on two points of judgnt. First, the killer's voice had a hint of naivety, sounding like a young man's voice.
The second point is that the shooter chose to livestream the killing, which is more like a young person's modus operandi.
After the massacre in the supermarket, the shooter discarded his gear and disguised himself as a regular custor before escaping.
Thinking of this, Luke's expression slightly changed. The shooter wasn't found in the supermarket, but his discarded clothing was. Everyone assud the shooter had escaped; could the culprit be using diversionary tactics, leaving his clothing in the supermarket to make people think he had run?
But in reality, he didn't escape and is hiding sowhere in the supermarket. The supermarket is not small, and hiding a person isn't impossible.
However, this is just a re guess, with no evidence, and Luke was not very confident.
But as the person in charge of the case, he must consider all possibilities. Guessing wrong isn't a big deal, but if he guesses right and does nothing, that's a big problem.
Luke snapped his fingers and instructed the sidekick, "Marcus, take a few people and search the supermarket carefully, see if there are any other survivors or suspicious individuals." He deliberately emphasized his tone.
The sidekick got the hint, "Do you think the shooter hasn't left?"
"I just want to make sure the place is safe."
"OK, as you wish."
Luke called out to the sidekick again, "Make sure to be careful."
Marcus laughed, "Don't worry, I'd love to run into that kid and take him out with one shot."
"Bang bang." Sounds ca from the ceiling.
The sidekick imdiately pulled out a gun, looking toward the ceiling.
"Thud." Another sound, but much lighter this ti.
Luke kept his eyes on the ceiling, roughly locating the source of the sound through the two noises and gesturing to the sidekick, then pointing to the ventilation duct on the ceiling.
At the top of the supermarket is a silver tal ventilation duct, with one end outside the supermarket and the other inside, not far away from the fruit shelf. Climbing the fruit shelf can lead into the ventilation duct.
Luke and the sidekick carefully approached to inspect. There's a tal grate on the duct opening that can be removed, but near the exit is U-shaped, making it impossible to see inside the duct. The inside of the duct is narrow, and climbing in rashly might be dangerous.
The sidekick shouted, "LAPD, we know you're in the ventilation duct. The supermarket is surrounded by police inside and out. You can't escape. Co out and surrender imdiately, or we'll start shooting."
The ventilation duct is long, and the sidekick couldn't determine where exactly the person was hiding, so he could only shout to force a surrender.
However, there was no response, and the effect was minimal.
Luke took a smoke grenade from the side of his bulletproof vest, "Hey, I know you're in the ventilation duct. If you don't co out, I'll throw a smoke grenade inside." Luke looked at the sidekick and said, "Go find a cardboard box to block the duct entrance."
The sidekick looked at the smoke grenade in Luke's hand, astonished. How could he be this sly? But I like it!
The sidekick hurried off to find a cardboard box.
After a while, a voice ca from the ventilation duct, "NONONO, please don't shoot. I have no weapon, and I'm not the shooter. I'm a good person."
A young voice ca from inside the duct.
"Then crawl out quickly." Luke didn't lower his guard, still aiming his gun at the duct.
Other team mbers also ca over, forming a semicircle around the duct entrance.
"Bang bang..." There were more noises from the ceiling, suggesting soone was climbing inside the duct.
After a while, soone slid down through the duct.
"LAPD!"
"Hands up, don't move!"
The surrounding officers held their guns up and remained alert.
A boy around ten years old raised his hands, tears running down his cheeks, eyes filled with fear and anxiety, "I have no weapon, please don't hurt ! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"
Luke had seen a photo of this boy and asked, "What's your na?"
"Antoine Powell."
"What's your mother's na?"
"Sasha Powell."
"Why were you in the classroom?"
"I ca to buy so olive oil."
Everything matched. Luke quietly reassured him, "No need to worry, the shooter is no longer in the supermarket. We're the police, here to save you."
Antoine Powell nodded quickly, tears in his voice, "I want to find my mom..."
"Of course you can." Luke called over the sidekick, whispered, "Search him, then take him to see his mother. You're in charge of the record-taking."
The sidekick glanced at Antoine Powell, "Got it."
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