LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On March 21, a man opened fire inside the 4th Street CVS in downtown Louisville. He critically injured a woman and a bullet grazed another person in the store.
The following day, in the early morning hours, police arrested Anthony Howard and charged him with wanton endangerment, assault and attempted murder.
The arrest citation said Howard had a previous relationship with the woman he shot, but she told WHAS11 that's not the case.
Aeisha Grainger is a manager at the CVS and said Howard quit three weeks before the shooting. Still, Grainger said he came back as a customer nearly every day for two weeks.
Grainger said Howard repeatedly made unwanted romantic advances, that he'd ask her to call him and it would make her uncomfortable.
On March 21 he returned to the store for the second time that day.
Grainger said it was just before 11 p.m., and he was lingering inside.
"He started looking through the isles and everybody was getting creeped out at him for staring at us," she said.
She recounted another manager asking Howard to leave, threatening to call the police if he didn't.
"And he came up the Easter aisle and pulled the gun from his side and started shooting at the window," Grainger said.
She dropped to the ground behind the counter as he continued to fire, hitting her multiple times in the legs.
"He sat the gun down next to me on the floor and then he kissed my forehead and told me he loved me, and then walked out," Grainger said.
The experience was traumatic, and when news coverage inaccurately reported she was Howard's ex-girlfriend, it was upsetting.
'I am not his ex-girlfriend," she said.
WHAS11 originally reported that Howard and the woman he shot were former romantic partners, citing the arrest citation.
We reached out to LMPD and asked if they had new information that supersedes the arrest citation. A spokesperson told us, "due to this still being an ongoing investigation we are unable to provide any other information regarding your request."
Grainger is now in the process of obtaining a protective order against Howard.
"I'm healing," she said. Grainger is still in the hospital, working through physical therapy and learning to walk again.
She said she has a strong support system that she's thankful for.
Howard's preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 31 at 9:00 a.m.
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