A supermarket cashier in Georgia was shot and killed by a customer on Monday in a dispute over the wearing of a face mask before the gunman was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with the store’s security guard, the local sheriff said.

The guard was also wounded in the incident which occurred at a little after 1 p.m. at the Big Bear Supermarket in DeKalb County, DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox told a news conference.

“It was over a mask. I don’t know if they were wearing, or not wearing,” she said. “The wearing of the mask and not wearing of the mask, people have their own opinion about it and it is very sensitive at this time.”

A MAN OPENED FIRE MONDAY ON A CASHIER AT A SUPERMARKET IN DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA, AFTER AN ARGUMENT ABOUT MASKS, KILLING THE WOMAN AND INJURING A DEKALB COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE RESERVE UNIT DEPUTY WHO RETURNED FIRE HTTPS://T.CO/DH2WS15DDW

— THE DAILY BEAST (@THEDAILYBEAST) JUNE 14, 2021

Several people were inside the store when a confrontation over mask wearing ensued. The gunman pulled out a weapon and shot the cashier. The security guard the opened fire on him, striking him a couple of times, Maddox said.

Businesses in Georgia can request customers wear a mask to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but are prohibited from requiring them to do so, according to executive orders issued by Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

Maddox did not release the names of the individuals involved in the shooting. She said all three were rushed to the hospital, where the guard remains in stable condition after he was shot twice.

The security guard is a retired 30-year veteran of the DeKalb County Police Department who is now a reserve deputy with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. The guard, who works part-time at the supermarket, was wearing a protective vest, Maddox said.

A CASHIER WAS KILLED AND BOTH THE SUSPECT AND A DEPUTY WERE WOUNDED IN A SHOOTING WHICH STARTED WITH A DISPUTE OVER A MASK AT A GEORGIA GROCERY STORE. HTTPS://T.CO/7S7KTN6PK1

— WSPA 7NEWS (@WSPA7) JUNE 14, 2021

Twelve women who accused their coach of sexual abuse for several years will now receive a total $13.85 million in a settled lawsuit alleging officials failed to acted upon reports of abuse.

The women claimed they were molested by coach Bahram Hojreh from 2012 to 2017 and that the International Water Polo Club and USA Water Polo did nothing to protect the girls. 

The California Supreme Court ruling in April concluded that the organizations had a responsibility to protect the athletes.

On Friday, the settlement was filed with the Orange County Superior Court, which will be paid by the insurers for both organizations.

“We have heard the plaintiffs’ testimony, and their allegations are heartbreaking,” CEO of USA Water Polo Christopher Ramsey said in a statement. “We hope that this allows them to begin a new chapter in their lives.”

The 34 counts of sexual abuse charges that Hojreh has pleaded not guilty to include lewd acts on a child, sexual penetration with a foreign object and sexual battery by fraud, which alleges the victims were not aware they were being molested because the coach said the “touching served a professional purpose,” according to the Associated Press.

Hojreh was suspended from USA Water Polo in January 2018 when the organization received reports from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a sports abuse watchdog created to assist professional athletes in abusive cases. 

Over the past years, many Olympic-level athletes have come forward and revealed massive sexual abuse scandals like USA Gymanstics doctor Larry Nassar, who abused over 150 victims.

At 57, Nassar will likely die in prison, with the judge who sentenced him in 2018 saying, “I just signed your death warrant.”

Hojreh has been permanently banned from the sport by SafeSport. However, he has not pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him and still faces several lawsuits.

The FBI on Tuesday announced a “massive worldwide takedown” of criminals around the globe with a sting operation in which the agency marketed and sold smartphones purported to encrypt messages, leading to roughly 500 arrests.

The sting operation, called Operation Trojan Shield, was led the agency’s San Diego bureau.  

FBI officials said in a press conference that the agency and other law enforcement groups worldwide, in an effort to nab criminals, created a fake company called ANØM to marketed the sleek black smartphones that were encrypted

However, when users sent messages, the phone would attach a master key that allowed law enforcement officials to decrypt and view the messages.

A “Confidential Human Source” worked with the FBI agreed to market the phones to distributors known to market such devices to known criminals, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“All they talk about is drugs, violence, hits on each other, innocent people going to be murdered,” said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw, who worked on the operation with the FBI.

Colin Shivers, an assistant director in the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said the phones allowed agents to see hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana and over $148 million in stolen currency.

Agents said they stopped over 100 threats to lives and made over 500 arrests around the world.