A GUNMAN fatally shot two people and wounded a police officer before he was shot and arrested Tuesday at a Walmart in the U.S. state of Mississippi, authorities said.

The gunman was shot by a Southaven Police officer and was hospitalized in unknown condition, DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco told WATN-TV.

Both of the people who died Tuesday morning were Walmart employees, WREG-TV reported. One person was found dead in the store and another found dead in the parking lot, WHBQ-TV reported.

Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto tells WATN-TV the officer was hit in his bulletproof vest and not seriously injured.

For customers and bystanders, the shooting turned a sleepy early morning into a panic at the Walmart Supercenter in Southaven, Mississippi.  (SD-Agencies)