Gunman kills two, then himself at US mall

NEW YORK • Two people were shot and killed and two others wounded at a shopping centre in Bend, Oregon, in the United States on Sunday evening, prompting law enforcement agencies to flood the area and enter a grocery store, where officers found the gunman dead from a gunshot wound.

Officers were still investigating a motive, authorities said, adding that the shooter's social media posts were also being looked into.

The victims were Bend resident Glenn Edward Bennett, 84, who was shot while shopping near the front of the store, and Mr Donald Ray Surrett Jr, 66, an employee of the grocery store.

Mr Surrett tried to disarm the shooter, said Bend Police Department spokesman Sheila Miller, adding: "Mr Surrett acted heroically."

At least two other people were injured.

The shooter was identified as Bend resident Ethan Miller, 20, who lived in the apartment complex behind the shopping centre.

He had no known criminal history in the area, Ms Miller said, adding that the gunman might have posted online about his violent intentions and police were investigating how he acquired the weapons.

Police found a sawed-off shotgun and a Molotov cocktail after searching his apartment and car. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The shooting began at about 7pm in the carpark of the Forum Shopping Centre in Bend, about 260km south-east of Portland. The gunman then entered a Safeway grocery store, where he shot and killed one person near the front door, Ms Miller said.

He walked through the store, firing multiple rounds, before fatally shooting another person inside, she added.

When police officers entered the store, they found the gunman dead, as well as an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun near him, said Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz. Officers did not fire at the gunman, he said.

The shooting at the mall came about three months after a white gunman armed with an assault-style weapon killed 10 people and wounded three others in a racist attack at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

The shooting also underscored how grocery stores have become another place where frightening gun violence can occur.

In September 2021, a gunman killed one person and injured 14 others at a Kroger grocery store in Tennessee. In March that year, 10 people were killed in an attack at a King Soopers supermarket in Colorado.

The Forum Shopping Centre is a popular spot for residents.

Ms Jessica Swartz, owner of River's Place, a nearby pod of food carts, said she did not hear any gunfire over the sound of live music, but saw her customers suddenly leaving in a "mass exodus".

Ms Swartz recalled thinking: "What is happening? I feel like we've now become a statistic."

NYTIMES