Safeway Employee Saved Lives By Confronting Oregon Gunman Police Say

Comment Donald Surrett Jr. could have run away Sunday when a man armed with an AR-style rifle opened fire inside the Bend, Ore., convenience store where Surrett worked. He could have been hiding. Instead, the 66-year-old Safeway employee tried to disarm the shooter. Sarrett “may very well have prevented other deaths,” Bend police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said Monday, choking up as she spoke about Sarrett during a news conference. “Sir. Surrett acted heroically during this terrible incident.” Surrett was one of two people killed Sunday night during shootings that broke out as the weekend ended and people tried to squeeze in some shopping before the start of the work week. The “heinous attack” disrupted life in Bend, a small town in central Oregon known for the Deschutes River, outdoor recreation and craft breweries. On Monday, Mayor Pro-Tem Anthony Broadman said he refuses to get used to such shootings. “We have to guard against the cynicism of seeing these attacks … as regular, inevitable things,” Brodman said. “I won’t accept it. I know the community of Bend will not accept this. We must stand united. We will.” Grocery store shootings are happening more often, turning an ordinary mission into an unforgettable nightmare. Guns Down America, a nonprofit that promotes gun control, counted 448 such incidents in which 137 people were killed during the 16½ months from Jan. 1, 2020, to May 14, the day a gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store in Vouvali. Included in the data: 10 people killed during a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. Three months later, a person was killed in a supermarket in Decatur, Ga. Three months later, someone was fatally shot at a Kroger in the Memphis area. “It’s one thing to hear about a shooting, but to hear it happen in a place like where you work makes it even more real,” Trish Gross, a cake decorator at a grocery store in Long Beach, California, told The Washington Post. last year. “Now I think about it every day when I’m at work: What would I do, where could I hide. It’s something that concerns me all the time.” Sunday’s attack at the Safeway in Bend began around 7 p.m. when Ethan Blair Miller left his apartment armed with an AR-style rifle and a shotgun and almost immediately began shooting, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said Monday at a news conference. Miller then went south to the Forum Mall where he continued shooting while in the parking lot of Costco and Big Lots, according to a department news release. Miller, 20, entered the Safeway using the store’s west entrance, where he shot and killed Glenn Edward Bennett, an 84-year-old Bend resident, police said in the release. He continued to fire as he walked through the store, until Surrett confronted and tried to disarm him in the produce section, police said. Surrett was fatally shot. Meanwhile, Bend police were responding to multiple 911 calls they had received since 7:04 p.m., police said. “When our officers arrived, they heard gunshots at Safeway and entered the store to confront the shooter while the gunshots were still being heard,” said Sheila Miller. Officers swarmed the store from the back and front about three minutes after the first 911 call and, at 7:08 p.m., found Miller with a self-inflicted wound next to a rifle and a shotgun, according to the release. Police said that given the weapons Miller had and the time of day, Surrett may have saved lives by confronting the gunman. “There were a lot of people coming out of the store,” Krantz said. “It’s a busy area … with a lot of shopping areas there, a lot of shops. It was a very busy parking lot at the time.” Bend resident Josh Caba and his family were there. they had stopped by Safeway to do some shopping, KTVZ reported. Not feeling well, Kamba’s wife stayed in the car while he and their four children got inside. About 10 minutes into the shopping trip, Kamba was heading toward the front of the store when he heard six or seven gunshots. “I just turned to my kids – I knew what it was right away – I just said, ‘Guys, run!’ ,” he told KTVZ. “It was absolutely terrifying, scarier than you think. As a dad, you’re always playing out these scenarios in your head.” Campa and three of his children fled through the back of the store. Having heard the gunshots, his wife had driven their car and waited as they got out, shouting at them to “Get in the car! Get in the car!” As they did, Kamba ran again to save their fourth child, who had been left behind. As the Cabas were leaving, police officers were walking in, he added. “When I came out of that store and the kids gathered, they run into the store. They are wonderful people. They deserve all the praise and credit in the world. It’s absolutely scarier than you can imagine to have someone shoot your kids,” Kamba told the station. Police said investigators are trying to discover a motive for the shooting, find any links Miller may have had to Safeway and link him to online posts, including a manifesto, that could explain his thinking. “We know the shooter may have posted information online about his plan. We are looking into that,” said Sheila Miller. “We have no evidence of prior threats or prior knowledge of the shooter. We received information about the perpetrator’s writings after the incident. And the perpetrator has no criminal record in the area.” On Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (R) highlighted Sarrett’s “heroism.” “While we are still piecing together the facts of last night’s shooting, it is clear that many more people could have been killed if not for the heroism of Donald Ray Surrett, Jr., who intervened to stop the shooter, and the police officers who they went in while shots were still being fired,” Brown wrote in a Facebook post. “In the face of senseless violence, they acted with selfless bravery,” the governor added. “Their courage saved lives.” Surrett’s ex-wife, Debora, told the Oregonian she wasn’t surprised he confronted the shooter, given his history. For more than 20 years, Surrett served in the US Army as a combat engineer. “He was trained to do that, because that’s what a combat engineer does,” he said. “They are the first to go to war.”

title: “Safeway Employee Saved Lives By Confronting Oregon Gunman Police Say Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-29” author: “Marguerite Smith”

Comment Donald Surrett Jr. could have run away Sunday when a man armed with an AR-style rifle opened fire inside the Bend, Ore., convenience store where Surrett worked. He could have been hiding. Instead, the 66-year-old Safeway employee tried to disarm the shooter. Sarrett “may very well have prevented other deaths,” Bend police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said Monday, choking up as she spoke about Sarrett during a news conference. “Sir. Surrett acted heroically during this terrible incident.” Surrett was one of two people killed Sunday night during shootings that broke out as the weekend ended and people tried to squeeze in some shopping before the start of the work week. The “heinous attack” disrupted life in Bend, a small town in central Oregon known for the Deschutes River, outdoor recreation and craft breweries. On Monday, Mayor Pro-Tem Anthony Broadman said he refuses to get used to such shootings. “We have to guard against the cynicism of seeing these attacks … as regular, inevitable things,” Brodman said. “I won’t accept it. I know the community of Bend will not accept this. We must stand united. We will.” Grocery store shootings are happening more often, turning an ordinary mission into an unforgettable nightmare. Guns Down America, a nonprofit that promotes gun control, counted 448 such incidents in which 137 people were killed during the 16½ months from Jan. 1, 2020, to May 14, the day a gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store in Vouvali. Included in the data: 10 people killed during a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. Three months later, a person was killed in a supermarket in Decatur, Ga. Three months later, someone was fatally shot at a Kroger in the Memphis area. “It’s one thing to hear about a shooting, but to hear it happen in a place like where you work makes it even more real,” Trish Gross, a cake decorator at a grocery store in Long Beach, California, told The Washington Post. last year. “Now I think about it every day when I’m at work: What would I do, where could I hide. It’s something that concerns me all the time.” Sunday’s attack at the Safeway in Bend began around 7 p.m. when Ethan Blair Miller left his apartment armed with an AR-style rifle and a shotgun and almost immediately began shooting, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said Monday at a news conference. Miller then went south to the Forum Mall where he continued shooting while in the parking lot of Costco and Big Lots, according to a department news release. Miller, 20, entered the Safeway using the store’s west entrance, where he shot and killed Glenn Edward Bennett, an 84-year-old Bend resident, police said in the release. He continued to fire as he walked through the store, until Surrett confronted and tried to disarm him in the produce section, police said. Surrett was fatally shot. Meanwhile, Bend police were responding to multiple 911 calls they had received since 7:04 p.m., police said. “When our officers arrived, they heard gunshots at Safeway and entered the store to confront the shooter while the gunshots were still being heard,” said Sheila Miller. Officers swarmed the store from the back and front about three minutes after the first 911 call and, at 7:08 p.m., found Miller with a self-inflicted wound next to a rifle and a shotgun, according to the release. Police said that given the weapons Miller had and the time of day, Surrett may have saved lives by confronting the gunman. “There were a lot of people coming out of the store,” Krantz said. “It’s a busy area … with a lot of shopping areas there, a lot of shops. It was a very busy parking lot at the time.” Bend resident Josh Caba and his family were there. they had stopped by Safeway to do some shopping, KTVZ reported. Not feeling well, Kamba’s wife stayed in the car while he and their four children got inside. About 10 minutes into the shopping trip, Kamba was heading toward the front of the store when he heard six or seven gunshots. “I just turned to my kids – I knew what it was right away – I just said, ‘Guys, run!’ ,” he told KTVZ. “It was absolutely terrifying, scarier than you think. As a dad, you’re always playing out these scenarios in your head.” Campa and three of his children fled through the back of the store. Having heard the gunshots, his wife had driven their car and waited as they got out, shouting at them to “Get in the car! Get in the car!” As they did, Kamba ran again to save their fourth child, who had been left behind. As the Cabas were leaving, police officers were walking in, he added. “When I came out of that store and the kids gathered, they run into the store. They are wonderful people. They deserve all the praise and credit in the world. It’s absolutely scarier than you can imagine to have someone shoot your kids,” Kamba told the station. Police said investigators are trying to discover a motive for the shooting, find any links Miller may have had to Safeway and link him to online posts, including a manifesto, that could explain his thinking. “We know the shooter may have posted information online about his plan. We are looking into that,” said Sheila Miller. “We have no evidence of prior threats or prior knowledge of the shooter. We received information about the perpetrator’s writings after the incident. And the perpetrator has no criminal record in the area.” On Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (R) highlighted Sarrett’s “heroism.” “While we are still piecing together the facts of last night’s shooting, it is clear that many more people could have been killed if not for the heroism of Donald Ray Surrett, Jr., who intervened to stop the shooter, and the police officers who they went in while shots were still being fired,” Brown wrote in a Facebook post. “In the face of senseless violence, they acted with selfless bravery,” the governor added. “Their courage saved lives.” Surrett’s ex-wife, Debora, told the Oregonian she wasn’t surprised he confronted the shooter, given his history. For more than 20 years, Surrett served in the US Army as a combat engineer. “He was trained to do that, because that’s what a combat engineer does,” he said. “They are the first to go to war.”

title: “Safeway Employee Saved Lives By Confronting Oregon Gunman Police Say Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-12” author: “Tricia Bowling”

Comment Donald Surrett Jr. could have run away Sunday when a man armed with an AR-style rifle opened fire inside the Bend, Ore., convenience store where Surrett worked. He could have been hiding. Instead, the 66-year-old Safeway employee tried to disarm the shooter. Sarrett “may very well have prevented other deaths,” Bend police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said Monday, choking up as she spoke about Sarrett during a news conference. “Sir. Surrett acted heroically during this terrible incident.” Surrett was one of two people killed Sunday night during shootings that broke out as the weekend ended and people tried to squeeze in some shopping before the start of the work week. The “heinous attack” disrupted life in Bend, a small town in central Oregon known for the Deschutes River, outdoor recreation and craft breweries. On Monday, Mayor Pro-Tem Anthony Broadman said he refuses to get used to such shootings. “We have to guard against the cynicism of seeing these attacks … as regular, inevitable things,” Brodman said. “I won’t accept it. I know the community of Bend will not accept this. We must stand united. We will.” Grocery store shootings are happening more often, turning an ordinary mission into an unforgettable nightmare. Guns Down America, a nonprofit that promotes gun control, counted 448 such incidents in which 137 people were killed during the 16½ months from Jan. 1, 2020, to May 14, the day a gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store in Vouvali. Included in the data: 10 people killed during a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. Three months later, a person was killed in a supermarket in Decatur, Ga. Three months later, someone was fatally shot at a Kroger in the Memphis area. “It’s one thing to hear about a shooting, but to hear it happen in a place like where you work makes it even more real,” Trish Gross, a cake decorator at a grocery store in Long Beach, California, told The Washington Post. last year. “Now I think about it every day when I’m at work: What would I do, where could I hide. It’s something that concerns me all the time.” Sunday’s attack at the Safeway in Bend began around 7 p.m. when Ethan Blair Miller left his apartment armed with an AR-style rifle and a shotgun and almost immediately began shooting, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said Monday at a news conference. Miller then went south to the Forum Mall where he continued shooting while in the parking lot of Costco and Big Lots, according to a department news release. Miller, 20, entered the Safeway using the store’s west entrance, where he shot and killed Glenn Edward Bennett, an 84-year-old Bend resident, police said in the release. He continued to fire as he walked through the store, until Surrett confronted and tried to disarm him in the produce section, police said. Surrett was fatally shot. Meanwhile, Bend police were responding to multiple 911 calls they had received since 7:04 p.m., police said. “When our officers arrived, they heard gunshots at Safeway and entered the store to confront the shooter while the gunshots were still being heard,” said Sheila Miller. Officers swarmed the store from the back and front about three minutes after the first 911 call and, at 7:08 p.m., found Miller with a self-inflicted wound next to a rifle and a shotgun, according to the release. Police said that given the weapons Miller had and the time of day, Surrett may have saved lives by confronting the gunman. “There were a lot of people coming out of the store,” Krantz said. “It’s a busy area … with a lot of shopping areas there, a lot of shops. It was a very busy parking lot at the time.” Bend resident Josh Caba and his family were there. they had stopped by Safeway to do some shopping, KTVZ reported. Not feeling well, Kamba’s wife stayed in the car while he and their four children got inside. About 10 minutes into the shopping trip, Kamba was heading toward the front of the store when he heard six or seven gunshots. “I just turned to my kids – I knew what it was right away – I just said, ‘Guys, run!’ ,” he told KTVZ. “It was absolutely terrifying, scarier than you think. As a dad, you’re always playing out these scenarios in your head.” Campa and three of his children fled through the back of the store. Having heard the gunshots, his wife had driven their car and waited as they got out, shouting at them to “Get in the car! Get in the car!” As they did, Kamba ran again to save their fourth child, who had been left behind. As the Cabas were leaving, police officers were walking in, he added. “When I came out of that store and the kids gathered, they run into the store. They are wonderful people. They deserve all the praise and credit in the world. It’s absolutely scarier than you can imagine to have someone shoot your kids,” Kamba told the station. Police said investigators are trying to discover a motive for the shooting, find any links Miller may have had to Safeway and link him to online posts, including a manifesto, that could explain his thinking. “We know the shooter may have posted information online about his plan. We are looking into that,” said Sheila Miller. “We have no evidence of prior threats or prior knowledge of the shooter. We received information about the perpetrator’s writings after the incident. And the perpetrator has no criminal record in the area.” On Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (R) highlighted Sarrett’s “heroism.” “While we are still piecing together the facts of last night’s shooting, it is clear that many more people could have been killed if not for the heroism of Donald Ray Surrett, Jr., who intervened to stop the shooter, and the police officers who they went in while shots were still being fired,” Brown wrote in a Facebook post. “In the face of senseless violence, they acted with selfless bravery,” the governor added. “Their courage saved lives.” Surrett’s ex-wife, Debora, told the Oregonian she wasn’t surprised he confronted the shooter, given his history. For more than 20 years, Surrett served in the US Army as a combat engineer. “He was trained to do that, because that’s what a combat engineer does,” he said. “They are the first to go to war.”

title: “Safeway Employee Saved Lives By Confronting Oregon Gunman Police Say Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-02” author: “Christine Campbell”

Comment Donald Surrett Jr. could have run away Sunday when a man armed with an AR-style rifle opened fire inside the Bend, Ore., convenience store where Surrett worked. He could have been hiding. Instead, the 66-year-old Safeway employee tried to disarm the shooter. Sarrett “may very well have prevented other deaths,” Bend police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said Monday, choking up as she spoke about Sarrett during a news conference. “Sir. Surrett acted heroically during this terrible incident.” Surrett was one of two people killed Sunday night during shootings that broke out as the weekend ended and people tried to squeeze in some shopping before the start of the work week. The “heinous attack” disrupted life in Bend, a small town in central Oregon known for the Deschutes River, outdoor recreation and craft breweries. On Monday, Mayor Pro-Tem Anthony Broadman said he refuses to get used to such shootings. “We have to guard against the cynicism of seeing these attacks … as regular, inevitable things,” Brodman said. “I won’t accept it. I know the community of Bend will not accept this. We must stand united. We will.” Grocery store shootings are happening more often, turning an ordinary mission into an unforgettable nightmare. Guns Down America, a nonprofit that promotes gun control, counted 448 such incidents in which 137 people were killed during the 16½ months from Jan. 1, 2020, to May 14, the day a gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store in Vouvali. Included in the data: 10 people killed during a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. Three months later, a person was killed in a supermarket in Decatur, Ga. Three months later, someone was fatally shot at a Kroger in the Memphis area. “It’s one thing to hear about a shooting, but to hear it happen in a place like where you work makes it even more real,” Trish Gross, a cake decorator at a grocery store in Long Beach, California, told The Washington Post. last year. “Now I think about it every day when I’m at work: What would I do, where could I hide. It’s something that concerns me all the time.” Sunday’s attack at the Safeway in Bend began around 7 p.m. when Ethan Blair Miller left his apartment armed with an AR-style rifle and a shotgun and almost immediately began shooting, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said Monday at a news conference. Miller then went south to the Forum Mall where he continued shooting while in the parking lot of Costco and Big Lots, according to a department news release. Miller, 20, entered the Safeway using the store’s west entrance, where he shot and killed Glenn Edward Bennett, an 84-year-old Bend resident, police said in the release. He continued to fire as he walked through the store, until Surrett confronted and tried to disarm him in the produce section, police said. Surrett was fatally shot. Meanwhile, Bend police were responding to multiple 911 calls they had received since 7:04 p.m., police said. “When our officers arrived, they heard gunshots at Safeway and entered the store to confront the shooter while the gunshots were still being heard,” said Sheila Miller. Officers swarmed the store from the back and front about three minutes after the first 911 call and, at 7:08 p.m., found Miller with a self-inflicted wound next to a rifle and a shotgun, according to the release. Police said that given the weapons Miller had and the time of day, Surrett may have saved lives by confronting the gunman. “There were a lot of people coming out of the store,” Krantz said. “It’s a busy area … with a lot of shopping areas there, a lot of shops. It was a very busy parking lot at the time.” Bend resident Josh Caba and his family were there. they had stopped by Safeway to do some shopping, KTVZ reported. Not feeling well, Kamba’s wife stayed in the car while he and their four children got inside. About 10 minutes into the shopping trip, Kamba was heading toward the front of the store when he heard six or seven gunshots. “I just turned to my kids – I knew what it was right away – I just said, ‘Guys, run!’ ,” he told KTVZ. “It was absolutely terrifying, scarier than you think. As a dad, you’re always playing out these scenarios in your head.” Campa and three of his children fled through the back of the store. Having heard the gunshots, his wife had driven their car and waited as they got out, shouting at them to “Get in the car! Get in the car!” As they did, Kamba ran again to save their fourth child, who had been left behind. As the Cabas were leaving, police officers were walking in, he added. “When I came out of that store and the kids gathered, they run into the store. They are wonderful people. They deserve all the praise and credit in the world. It’s absolutely scarier than you can imagine to have someone shoot your kids,” Kamba told the station. Police said investigators are trying to discover a motive for the shooting, find any links Miller may have had to Safeway and link him to online posts, including a manifesto, that could explain his thinking. “We know the shooter may have posted information online about his plan. We are looking into that,” said Sheila Miller. “We have no evidence of prior threats or prior knowledge of the shooter. We received information about the perpetrator’s writings after the incident. And the perpetrator has no criminal record in the area.” On Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (R) highlighted Sarrett’s “heroism.” “While we are still piecing together the facts of last night’s shooting, it is clear that many more people could have been killed if not for the heroism of Donald Ray Surrett, Jr., who intervened to stop the shooter, and the police officers who they went in while shots were still being fired,” Brown wrote in a Facebook post. “In the face of senseless violence, they acted with selfless bravery,” the governor added. “Their courage saved lives.” Surrett’s ex-wife, Debora, told the Oregonian she wasn’t surprised he confronted the shooter, given his history. For more than 20 years, Surrett served in the US Army as a combat engineer. “He was trained to do that, because that’s what a combat engineer does,” he said. “They are the first to go to war.”