The Safeway worker who was killed in Sunday’s shooting could have run to safety. Instead, he hid and waited to attack the shooter, Bend Police said Tuesday.
Police released new details on its ongoing investigation Tuesday afternoon, which included information about how bystanders jumped in to try rescuing one of the victims.
Video surveillance showed that when employee Donald Surrett Jr. heard the gunshots around 7:00 p.m. Sunday, he had “ample time” to run away.
“… but instead (Surrett) moved a produce cart into position to hide from the attacker. When the suspect approached, Surrett waited for the suspect to look away, then attacked the suspect with a produce knife he kept on his hip,” Bend Police said in a press release.
The suspect shot and killed Surrett, police said, before taking his own life as officers entered the building.
Surrett was one of two people killed in the shooting that night. The other, Glenn Bennett, was shot near the entrance.
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Video surveillance showed that two bystanders ran back into the store to pull Bennett out of the building after seeing him shot, police said. Bennett later died at the hospital.
Investigators have recovered more than 100 shell casings from the scene, police said. That includes The Forum shopping center, the Safeway and the apartments behind the grocery store. They are still looking for more casings.
Police also say it found that the suspect fired into his own vehicle, a 1997 Ford F-250, in the parking lot of the Fox Hollow apartments before entering The Forum parking lot.
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Police also say the suspect obtained his firearms legally and purchased them himself.
No other weapons have been found, police said, but they did find another 25 shotgun shells in the suspect’s apartment plus 150 rounds of 5.56 ammunition and a box of 25 rounds of shotgun shells in his truck.
At the time he died, the suspect had four magazines with 30 rounds each for his AR-15 when he was found dead.
Police also said the suspect worked at Safeway for a short time.
Bend Police says it expects to limit its continuing investigation to the Safeway, meaning the rest of the parking lot will be open to the public.
