NASHUA, N.H. — A man shot in front of a supermarket in Nashua among panicked shoppers was specifically targeted and authorities are searching for suspect, enlisting the help of officers outside the city, including in Massachusetts, police said Friday.

The victim, a 26-year-old Nashua man, was shot once in the neck in front of a Shaw’s supermarket on Main Street about 6:30 p.m. Thursday before the shooter ran away. Shoppers saw the victim bleeding on the ground and some caught a glimpse of the gunman. No one else was hurt.

The victim, who was not identified, was released from a Boston hospital Friday morning, said Lt. Michael Moushegian. “The victim is conscious and alert. He’s been very cooperative. He’s provided us with information we’re able to follow up on,” Moushegian said.

He said the investigation suggests that the victim “was a very specific target and there is not a greater generalized threat to the community.”

Moushegian declined to comment on the possible relationship between the victim and the shooter, or on a possible motive. “There are several people we’re attempting to locate and contact and we’re hoping these people will be able to provide additional information regarding the incident,” he said.

After the shooting Thursday night, police said the suspect could have been in the immediate area and requested that residents stay in their homes because they considered him armed and dangerous. Mousheigian said Friday police no longer believe he was in the area.

He declined to comment on whether there is any surveillance video from the supermarket that shows the shooting. People were shopping at the Shaw’s on Friday.

Shoppers and staff at the Shaw’s described a very chaotic scene at the time.

“All of a sudden I heard what sounded like a gunshot, then a woman ran in screaming,” said Heather Cameron, who was shopping inside the store. Cameron had been on her cell phone. “I hung up and called 911.”

Cameron said she went outside to see a young man lying on the pavement. He was next to a car, just feet from store’s entrance.

“There was blood around him,” Cameron said, adding that she looked up and caught a glimpse of a man who appeared to be fumbling with a gun. “Like he was trying to cock it,” she told The Telegraph of Nashua. “Then he ran off.”

Lynnette Malone, who was sitting on a bench near the supermarket, said the victim appeared to be walking toward the car. She believed a woman and two young children were waiting in the car. She said she believes she saw the suspect.

Andrea Russell, a worker at Shaw’s, said she heard a scream then saw customers coming in saying a man was shot.

“Next thing you know … we’re stuck inside and then it was just one thing after the next. We didn’t know what to do,” she said.