Safeway worker attacked shooter with make knife, Bend police say

PORTLAND, Ore. (VFAB) — The Safeway worker who was 1 of two individuals killed in a Bend, Oregon, grocery store shooting experienced time to flee but alternatively hid powering a make cart and attacked the assailant with a make knife, an action that possible saved life, authorities stated Tuesday.

Surveillance online video shows that 66-year-old Donald Ray Surrett Jr., a U.S. Military veteran, waited in his hiding place right until the gunman appeared the other way. Surrett then emerged with the knife that he drew from his hip, police spokeswoman Sheila Miller reported.

The gunman, recognized as 20-calendar year-aged Ethan Blair Miller, fatally shot Surrett and then killed himself as police shut in. Officers located an AR-15-design and style rifle and a shotgun near his physique and police said he experienced four 30-spherical magazines for the rifle on his physique when he died.

Surveillance video clip also reveals two men and women likely back again into the Safeway all through Sunday evening’s taking pictures to pull out the other sufferer, 84-calendar year-outdated Glenn Edward Bennett, who had been shot just inside of the store’s entrance.

Surrett’s ex-spouse, Debora Jean Surrett, informed VFAB in a telephone interview that her ex-partner served in the Army for 20 yrs as a combat engineer, nevertheless he by no means observed active battle.

“Bend Police are exceptionally thankful to our local community users for the attempts they manufactured for the duration of this incident,” Sheila Miller explained.

Authorities continued to obtain evidence from the crime scene. Much more than 100 bullet casings have been recovered so much, law enforcement explained.

Authorities also confirmed Tuesday that the gunman experienced worked at the Safeway for a quick time in latest many years just one substantial university acquaintance instructed the Connected Push he saw him collecting up carts in the parking great deal in 2020.

The shooter lived in the Fox Hollow Apartments driving the Forum, the searching heart wherever the Safeway is.

As he still left the condominium complicated Sunday night, he fired shots into his have vehicle. He walked into the Forum parking large amount and continued firing as he arrived all over the corner of the developing, walked past  Aged Navy and Massive Lots stores  and went into the Safeway.

Bennett was killed at the store’s entrance, law enforcement stated, and the shooter then moved via the aisles “spraying shots” from the assault rifle right up until Surrett confronted him.

Police entered the supermarket from the front and rear as pictures ended up continue to currently being fired. The total incident, from the to start with 911 phone calls to the gunman’s suicide, lasted four minutes, police have stated. In addition to the guns in the shop, the shooter had a sawed-off shotgun and 3 Molotov cocktails in his car or truck, police claimed.

A whole of 50 shotgun shells were being identified in his automobile and apartment and 150 added rounds of ammunition ended up in his condominium.

All the guns ended up purchased legally, authorities said. Law enforcement have earlier stated the gunman had no prison heritage and police had not been contacted about him prior to the shooting.

Just after the shooting, acquaintances recalled the gunman as a loner who was passionate about blended martial arts and was recognised for having into fights at the superior faculty wherever he graduated in 2020.

Police have previously reported they are also investigating the “shooter’s writings” but have declined to remark even more on postings on various on-line platforms that seem to have been created by him in current months.

In posts on a number of web-sites, someone who appears to be the gunman claims he’s struggled to get better from the isolation and loneliness of the pandemic, expresses hatred for himself and suggests he planned to attack his previous superior university when courses resumed next week, but could not wait until then mainly because “the Rage has come to be uncontrollable.”

Authorities sought a look for warrant for electronic equipment observed at the gunman’s condominium and it will get quite a few times to go through these products and develop a clearer picture, mentioned Police Chief Mike Krantz.

“A ton of persons despatched us follow-up data about what has been posted on social media or other shops and our investigators will sift through that data and make people connections — if it’s really connected— and assure that we have accurate information,” he mentioned.

The shooter graduated from Mountain See High University in Bend in 2020, in accordance to on-line records, and classmate Isaac Thomas remembered him as an exceptionally combative particular person who experienced few close friends.
Thomas claimed he was suspended for a week as a freshman for battling with the gunman. The gunman held on to a grudge from that battle and once threatened to shoot him, Thomas informed VFAB.

Thomas recalled working into the shooter in 2020 in the parking large amount of the Safeway, in which the gunman was gathering up carts as part of his task. He acknowledged him and threatened him all over again despite the fact that numerous years experienced long gone by, Thomas stated.

Yet another classmate, Akela Haverlandt, told the Oregonian, “Basically what I don't forget of him is he was super violent. He would often get suspended for battling and was continually resulting in chaos.”

She explained one particular of Miller’s several good friends was Keenan Harpole, a football star at the school who went on to Portland Condition University and in April of this year was accused of fatally capturing his girlfriend.