Orlando — The Publix supermarket where a man gunned down his wife, a cashier, before dozens of frightened customers re-opened for business Wednesday as more details emerged about the moments surrounding the murder-suicide.

Anicia Yankton, 34, died early Wednesday morning at Orlando Regional Medical Center, four hours after she was shot in the head by Andreau Yankton, 62, police said. He was the target of two prior domestic-violence complaints, according to Orange County Circuit Court records.

Andreau Yankton approached his wife’s checkout lane about 8 p.m. Tuesday and shot her, then fled to the parking lot on the corner of South Orange Avenue and Pineloch Street, south of downtown Orlando, police said.

An Orlando police patrol officer confronted the gunman, who then shot himself in the chest, police said. Andreau Yankton was pronounced dead that night at the hospital.

The couple was estranged, Orlando police spokesman Sgt. Pat Guckian said. It is unclear when they married.

On Wednesday, Publix customers said the moments after the shooting were filled with panic and confusion.

Ron Legler, 40, had stopped at the supermarket on his way home from his job as the head of a theatrical organization when the gunfire erupted.

Legler was talking on his cell phone in the cleaning products aisle. He heard a loud “crack.”

Then there were screams: “Oh my God. Get out of the store.”

Customers dropped to the floor and crawled for cover. Legler abandoned his cart and headed for double doors that led to a storage room. He said he held them open so a group of about 10 women could escape to an emergency exit on the building’s north side.

Before they were clear of the building, they heard more gunfire — this time from outside. The gunman was only steps away. Legler worried the shooter was picking off fleeing customers.

“Everyone go back in! Go back in!” he shouted. They huddled in the storage room, re-arranging boxes so they could hide. Two older women clung to his arms in fear.

Then store room doors burst open. A female bagger ran in, screaming: “She’s shot in the head, she’s shot in the head.”

The bagger provided details to the group, saying the gunman walked up behind her as she worked a checkout line near the entrance. He fired over her shoulder, hitting the cashier. The shot was so loud, the bagger said, she had trouble hearing.

Then the store fell silent. Customers were asked to go to the front of the store.

Counselors provided to employees

Legler and the women in the storeroom arrived there to find Anicia Yankton — who called herself “Anica” — lying between checkout lanes eight and nine near the store entrance. Blood covered the groceries.

It was as if they had entered a movie scene, Legler said.

“You feel that that someone is going to shout ‘Cut,’ ” Legler said.

Bill Roth, 50, of Orlando comes to the Publix daily and knows many of the workers, he said. Yankton was quiet, but was always friendly and smiled.

The cashier recently told Roth she was from the Philippines.

“She’s just a good lady,” Roth said. “She’s a newer face here.”

Co-workers said that Anicia Yankton had worked at the store for a few months. Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous did not confirm her hire date. Workers were told not to speak to the media.

The store typically has on-site security — usually off-duty law-enforcement officers — but none were there at the time of the shooting. One off-duty officer left the store before the shooting, according to Brous.

Publix provided grief counselors for store employees.

Gunman Andreau Yankton, a state-licensed insurance salesman, had a troubled past. Two ex-wives had petitioned for domestic-violence injunctions against him.

Marietta Yankton married Andreau in 1968 and divorced him in 1997, according to Orange County court records. She petitioned for an injunction in 2002, but was denied.

Attempts to reach Andreau Yankton’s relatives were unsuccessful. A man who answered the phone at Marietta Yankton’s residence declined comment.

Court records also show ex-wife Teresita Caneda successfully petitioned for a domestic-violence injunction in 1996. The two married in 1997 and divorced in 2003.

Petition details were not available.

Andreau Yankton struggled with financial problems during the past decade. Court records showed he filed for bankruptcy in Orlando in 2000, and his bank foreclosed upon his east Orange County home in 2007.

Murder-suicides in Central Florida

Wednesday’s murder-suicide was only the latest in Central Florida in recent months.

Most of the killers and their victims were in troubled relationships. Social-services agencies have warned that the region could see an increase in domestic violence because of economic troubles.

Demand for services is up 30 percent this year, said Carol Wick, director of Harbor House, an Orlando shelter for victims of domestic violence. Historically, Orange County has had one of the highest domestic-violence-homicide rates in the state of Florida, Wick said.

Last month, Cocoa resident Alissa Blanton, 23, was gunned down by a man who stalked her at her home and workplace, the AT&T Wireless Call Center near the University of Central Florida. Roger Troy of Cocoa Beach, who had met Blanton when she worked at a Hooters restaurant, fatally shot himself after he killed the newlywed.

On Dec. 15, a Sanford man fatally shot his wife and then took his own life. In July, a 34-year-old man in Deltona shot and killed his former longtime girlfriend and then himself. In June, a father fatally shot his wife and two children inside their Heathrow home and then killed himself.

Data show that the danger is acute once a victim has tried to end a relationship with a batterer, Wick said.

“Nationally, we know that it is the number one time when a woman is most likely to be killed,” she said. “Just because you’ve left doesn’t mean the danger has gone away.”

From: Palm Beach Post

Grocery shopping is easy. Walking up and down the aisles looking for anything enticing to the eyes. Having a list helps too, just in case you forget anything. Once you’re in the checkout, there’s no going back. Once in line, there’s a commitment. The groceries are on the conveyor belt, the grocery clerk is scanning and bagging the groceries and the person behind you is patiently waiting to be rung up. Just be sure you have everything you came for because in the checkout; the most dreaded thing to say is, “”I forgot something, I’ll be right back.” Shopping in line is annoying to the customer but what’s annoying to the grocery clerk is, we have to tell everyone what’s going on who’s coming into the line.

Customers eager to go into the checkout are puzzled with the groceries on the conveyor belt and no one in front of it…

Checking out Checkstands #1: Hey, are you open?

Me: I am but she went to go get a few more items.

Checking out Checkstands #2: Someone supposed to be here?

Me: She went to go get a few more items. She’ll be right back.

I can see the customers deciding if it’s safe to unload their items. Many are optimistic and do.

Not Ready Betty: Sorry guys, I’m back!

Me: Oh, its okay.

Checking out Checkstands #1: No problem.

Checking out Checkstands #2: Ah, don’t say sorry. We’ve all done it before.

Not Ready Betty: Oh no! I forgot one more thing. I’ll be right back.

Me: …

Checking out Checkstands #1: …

Checking out Checkstands #2: …

SANDUSKY, Ohio — Police say a man in Ohio got so upset over a mistake on the price of crab cakes that he punched a grocery store manager several times and spit in his face.

Authorities in Sandusky arrested 61-year-old Ralph Barr on charges of assault and criminal damaging.

Police say the store made a mistake in the price of crab cakes and offered to sell the first pound at a discounted price but the rest at the correct price.

The store manager says he was punched five or six times and head-butted.

Barr told police that the manager hit him with a price gun, but witnesses said the manager didn’t fight back.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday at Barr’s home.

From: AP Press – ABC Local News

Grocery store prices always fluctuate. It has nothing to do with the economy, sometimes sale prices are better than others. Each week there is a new ad for items that are on sale throughout the store and the prices stand until the next ad. We cannot alter or match the prices of our competitors because it is against store policy. As much as we would like to accommodate the customer, its better to be safe than sorry.

At the customer service booth, a customer wants us to price match toothpaste that is 50 cents cheaper at our competitor down the street…

Match Me: [holding up the toothpaste] The store down the street has these for 50 cents cheaper.

Me: Okay…

Match Me: Are you going to match it?

Me: I’m sorry sir, we cannot price match our competitors.

Match Me: You’re going to let me walk down the street?

Me: Sorry.

He’s inching closer to the door.

Match Me: I’m leaving.

Inching closer to the door…

Match Me: Last chance, I’m going down the street.

Me: *Sigh*

If our grocery store manages to have 365 accident days free, we’re rewarded with a 300 dollar gift card for store parties and new equipment. Last time we accomplish this task, we had several parties with food from the deli and pastries from the bakery. We also bought new chairs for our break room and my favorite, purified water pitchers.

Having purified water pitchers helps us save at least a dollar a day from buying bottles of water and for those who are not big fans of drinking tap water. The problem with having purified water pitchers is they have to be refilled constantly and most of the time they’re not. We have to find a way to encourage co-workers to refill the pitchers after every use. It had to be something clever like the old VHS tapes we used to rent…

AHA! On my break, I played with the label maker and came up with the best slogan! It’s even made with “Myspace”, upper then lowercase sequence lettering for the young grocery clerks…

What do you do when something is out of your control? Just the other day, two of our checkers called in sick and it was only down to Debbie and I, from 6 PM to midnight. Lines are building up because customers had just gotten out of work and anxious to buy or make dinner. What do you do if there’s only two of you and about 20 people in line? What do you do when there’s hecklers that keeps asking when are we going to get another checker or why are we so slow? Yelling and being mad about the lines does not make things go faster. We see the lines and believe us, we really don’t want to check every single person out without help. The best thing we’ve done over the years was just ignore it and go on with our business as fast as we can. That was until I received a special email from Melissa of Huckleberry Prairie, who was once the manager of a grocery store. She wrote me a list of her pet peeves and although we can relate to them all; she mentioned this particular moment and how we can alleviate it…

Hecker #1: Can you guys get another checker up here!

Heckler #2: Do you realize how many people is waiting!?

We can hear the grumbles and pouting. We have to do something before the customers form an alliance against us.

Heckler #3: Your lines are long!

Then it hit me. I remembered what Melissa wrote…

LUIS, CAN YOU CHECK PLEASE!

You can sense the tension slowly dying down as the customers wait for Luis…

A few minutes go by…

LUIS, CAN YOU CHECK PLEASE!

The lines became smaller and smaller. The heckler’s stopped their abrasive comments and still no sign of Luis.

When things got normal Debbie turns to me and says,

Debbie: Who’s Luis?

Me: [shrug] It worked didn’t it?

THANK YOU MELISSA! You definitely saved our butts on that one. Be sure to check out Melissa’s blog, Huckleberry Prairie. She’s one funny lady.

Things start to get bad when customers start agreeing with one another. If one customer has a problem at checkout, usually the customers behind them would also intervene. They form an instant bond and immediately have things in common with what’s wrong with their grocery store. At checkout, we are outnumbered. There’s nothing we can do if we couldn’t have done already. Agreeing with one another does not pressure the checker to do something they shouldn’t do because we don’t make the rules, we have to enforce them.

Customer wants to get a refund for 3 bottles of olive oil she bought from one of our grocery stores, without a receipt…

Me: Ma’am I can’t do anything without a receipt and I can’t do an exchange because we don’t sell it here.

Ringleader: We’ll its still the same store!

Me: Well your going to have to take it back to that store.

Ringleader: Why? This is the same store but a different location! Doesn’t make any sense!

Me: I’m sorry ma’am but we can’t take back anything we don’t sell. Even though we’re the same company, we carry different items.

Customers waiting in line behind her instigate…

Instigator #1: Didn’t you hear what she said? It’s still the same store!

Instigator #2: What happen to the customer is always right?

Me: But, I can’t do anything.

Ringleader: You’re the supervisor! What do you mean you can’t do anything!

Instigator #2: Looks like we’re talking to the wrong person. He has no authority.

Instigator #1: This is why I only come here when I have to.

Me: You guys aren’t helping.

Ringleader: Your no help either.

Instigator #1: I’m going to another line.

Me: …

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