COMMERCE – An off-duty sheriff's deputy was lauded as a hero Sunday for shooting a man who burst into a Walmart during a gunfight with police near the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce.

ANDY JACOBSOHN/DMN

A bullet-riddled Ford Mustang sits in a Walmart parking lot Sunday in Commerce after a shootout that left the Mustang's driver dead and an off-duty Delta County sheriff's deputy injured.

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The gunman was killed in the afternoon shooting. Delta County Deputy Paul Robertson was hospitalized Sunday night with injuries that were not life-threatening. He apparently was shopping when the suspect came to the store.

"If he had not been there and tried to detain the suspect when he did, this could have been a lot worse," Commerce city spokeswoman Marty Cunningham said. "We could have had a lot of people hurt."

Authorities did not release the name of the gunman or a possible motive for what sparked the shootout.

The incident began about noon in Greenville, 12 miles southwest of Commerce, when police reported that three shots had been fired from a red Ford Mustang.

A short time later, Commerce police spotted the car near their city limits. They said the man shot at officers, who returned fire along State Highway 50.

The suspect drove to the Walmart along the highway, police said.

Kala Ryan, a waitress at a nearby restaurant, said she saw officers confront the man in the parking lot.

"They had him at gunpoint and were trying to get him to put his weapon down," she said.

Instead, the gunman, who had been wounded, ditched his bullet-riddled Mustang and headed toward the store entrance carrying a long-barreled gun and a pistol. About 12:35, Robertson spotted the man coming toward the store.

"He did try to detain him, and that's when shots began to be fired," Cunningham said.

Witnesses said at least eight shots were fired during the gunfight. Store employees and a few Sunday shoppers scrambled for cover.

The gunman died at the scene. Robertson was taken by helicopter to East Texas Medical Center in Tyler.

The burst of violence and the ensuing investigation stunned the city of about 8,000 people 60 miles northeast of Dallas.

Investigators spent the afternoon and evening combing over the crime scene and interviewing witnesses.

Among them was 78-year-old Nancy Druda, a store greeter who was standing near the front doors when the suspect approached.

"She's pretty shaken up, you can tell it in her voice," Druda's daughter Debra Boyd said while waiting to take her mother home.

Joann Sanchez, another of Druda's daughters, said her mother told them she instinctively helped customers when the gunfire erupted near the store's foyer.

"She guided them with her arms and got them away," Sanchez said.

A man at the suspect's home in rural Hunt County asked a reporter to leave the property Sunday afternoon.

"We don't need to talk to nobody," the man said.

The Texas Rangers were also involved in the investigation, which included the first shooting scene along State Highway 50.

Dan Fogleman, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesman in Bentonville, Ark., called the shooting a "disturbing turn of events" and said the company was working with police.

Fogleman added: "We deeply appreciate the bravery demonstrated by the off-duty officer to help ensure the safety of the other customers in the store and we pray for his full recovery."

Staff writer Eric Aasen contributed to this report.