Krystle Dikes Knew Elkhart Shooter Shawn Walter Bair

Krystle Dikes was one of two victims of the supermarket gunman Shawn Walter Bair and new reports reveal the two may have known each other.

In a related report from The Inquisitr, police say the Elkhart shooter could have killed many more people had they not arrived so quickly.

Late on Wednesday night Shawn Walter Bair walked into the Indiana super market wearing a long black trench coat and holding a semi-automatic hand gun. Krystle Dikes was one of the employees he targeted first then he went after another female customer named Rachael Godfried. Bair then held the Martin’s Super Market manager hostage at gunpoint for about 20 minutes while he made phone calls and sent several text messages. When police burst into the store the manager successfully fled the building and the gun battle resulted in Bair’s death.

Although Bair’s motive is still unknown, a friend of Krystle Dikes named Natasha Sellers says the killer would definitely have known her:

“I did know him. He dated one of my friends in high school. He always seemed like a really nice guy. I had heard he had a few drug problems, but I never would have thought of this.”

Other sources have confirmed that Dikes and Bair did know each other but no one knows if she was a target or if she just got caught in the crossfire.

Krystle Dikes’ mother, Juanita Whitacre, says the news of her daughter’s death came to her at one in the morning from police and two chaplains. While it was difficult to talk about what had happened she wanted everyone to know who her daughter was.

The young woman had dropped out of high school in her senior year when age 18 but is said to have been smart enough to pass the GED test without studying. Moving out on her own, she apparently was having difficulty since she desired “less drama” in her life. Up until a month ago Krystle had lived in Muncie selling guns for her stepbrother, who was a registered gun broker. But eventually she decided to move back to Elkhart to be closer to family and that’s when she got the job at the supermarket:

“She was trying to create a more peaceful existence for herself. She said she enjoyed that about Martin’s because she could work at night, didn’t have to talk to anybody. She could just put her headphones on, listen to music and stock shelves.”

The troubles in her life also allowed her to relate with those having difficulty in their lives:

“Krystle loved people. She was very outgoing and she was free-spirited and independent. She probably had thousands of friends that are kids, teenagers, and she reached out to kids that had a lot of problems. She was right there wanting to help them, no matter how bad their situation was, especially the kids with the worst problems. She didn’t judge people by their cover. She looked deeper.”

Krystle Dikes’ funeral is being set for Wednesday at the First Baptist church in the area. The family also said the police who so quickly responded to the Elkart supermarket shooting are heroes. They want everyone to remember Krystle as a singer, dancer, artist, photographer and poet. But her gift was caring for special needs children and she had wanted to own daycare one day.