The employee, Donald Ray Sarrett Jr., 66, encountered the gunman in the back of the store in the produce section and tried to disarm him, police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said. He described the worker as a “hero” who probably saved other people. He said the customer was 84-year-old Glen Edward Bennett of Bend, who was killed at the west entrance of the store in the popular Forum shopping center. Police identified the gunman as Ethan Miller and said he lived at the Fox Hollow Apartments in the back of the mall. Officers arrived on the scene within minutes of the 911 call shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday and rushed to the store within a minute as gunshots were still being heard, police said. They found the gunman dead inside with an AR-15 style rifle and shotgun nearby. The gunman is believed to have entered the mall on foot from a nearby residential area, walked through the Costco parking lot on the plaza and then to a Safeway entrance, where he shot his first victim, Police Chief Mike Crandz said. He then shot the worker. Two other people were injured, police said. Molly Taroli, 40, was shopping for dinner with her husband when the attacker started “spraying”, she told The Bulletin newspaper. Taroli said she grabbed her own gun from her purse as employees yelled, “go, go, go!” as they tried to help people out of the store. Josh Caba, another shopper at the store, told KTVZ he was with his four children when he heard multiple gunshots. “I immediately turned to my kids and said, ‘Run!’ People were screaming,” Kamba told the news agency. “It was a terrifying experience.” Governor Kate Brown offered her condolences. “I am asking all Oregonians to keep the victims of last night’s shooting in Bend and their families in your thoughts and hearts today,” she said in a statement. “Every Oregonian should be able to go to a grocery store without fear of gun violence.” Oregon State Police are also working with Bend police on the investigation, he said. The FBI is also working on the investigation. “Last night’s shooting was one of several in Oregon just this weekend,” Brown said. “The families of these victims will be forever affected by these senseless acts. All Oregonians deserve to be safe from gun violence.” The head of the union representing Safeway grocery workers said he was “heartbroken to see American workers once again face the unthinkable.” “In retail spaces, gun violence is becoming increasingly common,” UFCW Local 555 President Dan Clay said in a statement. Retail workers should not have to go to work facing violence and deserve more protection than our society has chosen to give them.” Safeway employee Jake Daniels told The Bulletin he heard three shots followed by six more. After the first shots, he said he started grabbing people and running out the doors of the store. Three months ago, a white gunman killed 10 black people at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, including a customer who was volunteering at a food bank and another who was caring for her husband in his nursing home. Most of the victims in the May 14 shooting were 50 and older. Last September, a gunman attacked a Kroger grocery store in Collierville, Tennessee, a suburban community 30 miles east of Memphis, killing one, injuring more than a dozen people and then killing himself. Bend Mayor Pro-Tem Anthony Broadman rushed to the mall off US 20 in east Bend when he heard the news and later stood with the police chief as Krantz described what happened earlier that night. The popular center is also home to a Big Lots store and Old Navy. The realization that a mass shooting had hit the city of 100,000 was “shocking” and “horrifying,” he said, and yet somewhat cruelly predictable. “This is the gun culture we’ve allowed ourselves to live in,” he said Monday. “Our little town here in the mountains is mourning.” Broadman said he was impressed with the coordination between local police, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, state troopers and federal agents who quickly secured the scene of the shooting and then spread out to make sure surrounding areas were safe as the callers reported a possible second killer. Police did not find another gunman. Brodman said he spoke with the governor by phone and saw an outpouring of support from other mayors across the state. He later learned that one of his friends was inside the grocery store at the time of the shooting, but was not injured. “Today is a day to mourn and mourn and renew our efforts to make sure Bend is a safe place to live,” he said. “Because right now I don’t feel like it. You can’t go shopping, you can’t go to church, you can’t go to school — and that’s unacceptable.” Brodman said the shooting will affect generations of residents, including many children, recalling how he learned as a child that someone had once shot his father. But he said the Safeway shooting will not disrupt city functions, including a forum on the homeless planned for Monday night. A community vigil was also planned for later Monday. “It’s a very dark day for Bend and a dark night,” he said. “There is a lot of trauma in this extended family right now.” This is a developing story and will be updated. — Oregonian reporter Jane Sparling and The Associated Press contributed to this report. — Savannah Eadens? [email protected]; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadens Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today at OregonLive.com/subscribe
