A security guard and female customer were killed Friday morning when the two exchanged gunfire inside a Giant grocery store in Prince George’s County, Md., police said at a news conference.

Authorities did not release the names of the two people who died, saying police were still notifying their families.

The shooting happened at about 10:25 a.m. Friday in the entryway of the Giant, located on Audrey Lane in the Eastover Shopping Center in Oxon Hill, police said. It was the second fatal incident this week, after a man was fatally stabbed in the same shopping center on Wednesday.

The female customer, police said, was inside the store “attempting to commit a theft” by placing items in her backpack when the security guard approached her. The woman pulled a gun out of the backpack, police said, and shot several times at the security guard.

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The security guard fired his gun back at the woman, police said.

Both had gunshot wounds when authorities arrived at the store. The security guard died at the scene of the shooting, and the woman died after she was transported to a hospital.

Police did not say what they alleged the woman had attempted to steal. They also did not say how many customers and employees were inside the store at the time of the shooting or how many bullets were fired during the exchange. At least one bullet punctured a hole in the front display window of the grocery store, where advertisements for pumpkins were hanging.

“It’s quite concerning that these brazen acts are occurring across the country and in our backyard, especially right near our police division,” said Maj. Zachary O’Lare, executive officer in the police Bureau of Investigations and Forensic Science.

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“There is a reason why the department has a division right in this shopping center, and that’s for the safety and security of the citizens,” said O’Lare, who previously led police officers in District 4, which includes Oxon Hill.

The police station he referred to sits just across the parking lot from the Giant grocery store, nestled in the shopping center between a seafood restaurant and a Foot Locker. O’Lare said the department recently hosted a community event in the shopping center lot in an attempt to build relationships with residents.

A spokesperson for Giant said the grocery chain was aware of the shooting but could not comment because of the ongoing police investigation.

“This is an important matter and we’re going to let the police do the investigation,” said Felismina Andrade, Giant’s director of external communications and community relations. “It’s not a call that you want to get.”

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By early afternoon Friday, police had cordoned off a large section of the parking lot outside the Giant with yellow crime scene tape. Detectives and crime scene technicians were still processing the scene and interviewing witnesses, police said.

Shelley Crochan, 57, said she learned on Instagram that there had been some sort of incident in the shopping center where she has bought groceries for years.

When she arrived a little before 11 a.m., she saw about five ambulances, a firetruck and police cars lined up outside the store. She captured video of a woman being rolled out on a stretcher.

Crochan said she has always felt safe shopping at the Giant, despite crime in the area. But the shooting Friday morning — on top of the fatal stabbing this week — left her unsettled.

“I will take pause,” she said. “I won’t be back this week until we know what happened.”

“Tired of this,” Crochan added. “These really are a lot of hard-working people in this neighborhood.”

We are on the scene of double fatal shooting at a grocery store in the 20 block of Audrey Lane in Oxon Hill. This is an isolated incident and there is no danger to the community. Additional information will be released once confirmed. pic.twitter.com/hYpX6dLiMl

This developing story has been updated.

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