Gulfport store caught in standoff will reopen Saturday

Brothers Foodmart in Gulfport reopens tomorrow in the wake of Wednesday’s standoff which ended with a murder suspect dead.

Today, News 25 spoke with employee Hashed Almaklani, he declined to go on camera, but said the shooter, Jeremy Reynolds, entered the store with a gun and held the worker hostage for several minutes.

Almaklani said he tried to fight the gunman off for several minutes before escaping the store.

Holes are still visible in the office window made when police fired tear gas canisters.

Reynolds was found in that very office, dead of smoke inhalation after he had apparently started a small fire in the enclosed space.

That brought Wednesday’s death toll to five after Reynolds had gunned down three at a Biloxi hotel and killed a Gulfport contract worker during a carjacking.

The Harrison County Coroner’s Office confirmed the shooter’s cause of death.