Police: Heroic Safeway employee confronted gunman inside store
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Safeway employee who formerly served inside the U.S. Army for set of two decades attacked a gunman inside the manufacture segment of the Bend, Oregon, supermarket, police said Monday, maybe preventing additional casualties from a shooting that left-hand the employee with every one other accompanied by one other human being dead.
Police hailed the employee, 66-year-old Donald Ray Surrett Jr., of Bend, while a courageous male with every one other accompanied by said his actions may have saved shoppers at the store inside the high-desert city ringed by mountains inside the centre small portion of the state. Customer Glenn Edward Bennett, 84, of Bend, was too killed Sunday evening, police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.
"Mr. Surrett engaged accompanied by the shooter, attempted to disarm him with every one other accompanied by may extremely well have prevented further deaths. Mr. Surrett acted heroically turning this dreadful event," Miller said at a report conference while she struggled opposed to tears.
Police said Monday the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; his body was found by police near an AR-15-style weapon with every one other accompanied by a shotgun. Police identified the gunman while Ethan Blair Miller, 20, of Bend.
The gunman lived inside an apartment complicated behind The Forum Shopping Center. Witnesses said he began shooting Sunday evening while in a short time while he left-hand the complicated with every one other accompanied by continued firing while he entered the shopping complex's parking a large amount with every one other accompanied by at that hour dated went into the Safeway.
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Bennett was killed at the store's entrance, police said, with every one other accompanied by the shooter at that hour dated moved into and not here of the aisles "spraying shots" from the assault rummage until Surrett confronted him. The entire event — from the earliest 911 calls to officers discovering the have a suspicion deceased inside the store — unfolded inside quartet minutes, Miller said.
Police entered the supermarket from the front with every one other accompanied by rear while shots were still actuality fired.
Debora Jean Surrett, the ex-wife of the Safeway employee killed inside the attack, told The Associated Press inside a phone meeting that Surrett served inside the Army for 20 years while a combat engineer.
He wasn't deployed to operative combat zones, nevertheless throughout the 20 years they were married from 1975 to 1995, they were stationed inside Germany trio times with every one other accompanied by lived on military bases across the U.S.
"They're trained to exist the earliest ones to go into war with every one other accompanied by the last ones to go nearer home," she told the AP.
Bend Mayor Pro Tem Anthony Broadman said Americans "need to retain protected from danger opposed to the cynicism of intelligent of these attacks on order with every one other accompanied by tranquillity while regular, unavoidable things. I won't receive that."
"We know that inside the face of the sort of chaos that we saw last night, we had courageous earliest responders, courageous citizens, people willing to stand up for their neighbors," he added.
Authorities subsequent found trio Molotov cocktails with every one other accompanied by a sawed-off shotgun inside the shooter's car. The Oregon State Police bomb squad was called inside to sweep the store, the automobile with every one other accompanied by the suspect's apartment for explosives, authorities said, forcing the evacuation of eight surrounding apartments on Monday morning.
Miller said reports that there was a following shooter were not true.
Authorities are seeking a search warrant to comb into and not here of online materials on an unspecified number of digital devices they found at the shooter's apartment nevertheless declined to remark on reports that the have a suspicion posted his plans online inside advance. Bend police are employed accompanied by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms with every one other accompanied by Explosives to determine where the have a suspicion got his weapons with every one other accompanied by if he did so legally, Miller said.
"We are aware that the shooter may have posted details online concerning his plan. We're investigating this," she said. "We have no indeed proof of foregoing threats or earlier knowledge of the shooter. We received details concerning the shooter's writings following the event had taken place. And the shooter has no indeed criminal history inside the area."
The shooter graduated from Mountain View High School inside Bend inside 2020, according to online records, with every one other accompanied by a former classmate remembered him while an extremely combative human being who had few friends.
He was a enormous air cooler of mixed martial arts with every one other accompanied by "tried to fight everyone at Mountain View with every one other accompanied by kept getting his (expletive) kicked with every one other accompanied by he fair never learned," said Isaac Thomas, who was suspended for a week while a freshman for fighting accompanied by the gunman. The gunman held onto a grudge from that fight with every one other accompanied by on one occasion threatened to shoot him, Thomas told AP.
"At one point he said he was going to shoot me with every one other accompanied by I was like, 'Get over yourself' since I didn't believe he had a gun, nevertheless I roughly calculate I was wrong," Thomas said.
Thomas recalled running into the shooter inside 2020 inside the parking a large amount of the Safeway, where the gunman was gathering up carts while small portion of his job. He recognized him with every one other accompanied by threatened him on one occasion additional although some years had gone by, Thomas said.
"It was sort of insane when I heard concerning it," he said of the shooting. "But it makes sensory power that he chose Safeway since he worked there with every one other accompanied by he knew the layout."
Oregon's elected leaders reacted to the shooting Monday accompanied by pledges to fight for additional firearm control.
Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said inside a statement that the shooting was one of some inside Oregon over weekend with every one other accompanied by that "Oregonians deserve to exist protected from danger from firearm violence."
Oregon residents will ballot inside November on one of the strictest gun-control measures inside the nation. If passed, Measure 114 would ban large capacity magazines over 10 rounds — except for contemporaneous owners, rules and regulations enforcement with every one other accompanied by the military — with every one other accompanied by need a permit to buy some gun.
To be eligible for a permit, an applicant would need to complete an approved firearm safety course, pay a fee, provide personal information, give in to fingerprinting with every one other accompanied by photographing with every one other accompanied by go a criminal background check. The condition police would create a firearms database.
Bend is a city of concerning 97,000 roughly 160 miles (257 kilometers) southeast of Portland, Oregon.
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Associated Press reporters Claire Rush inside Portland; Freida Frisaro inside Fort Lauderdale, Florida; with every one other accompanied by AP Researcher Jennifer Farrar inside New York contributed to this report.
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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus
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