Donald Ray Surrett Jr., an employee at a Safeway grocery store in Bend, Oregon, attacked the gunman and tried to disarm him possibly preventing more deaths from a shooting that left him and an elderly customer dead, police said on Monday.
Shortly after 7pm local time on Sunday, the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Ethan Blair Miller entered Forum Shopping Center’s parking lot and opened fire with his AR-15-style rifle.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said, “At approximately 7:04 p.m. we received a call for service at the Forum Shopping Center. Multiple 911 calls came in. As police responded we had reports of at least one possible or two active shooters in the area. The calls were shots being fired. We believe the shooter entered from a residential area behind the Forum Shopping Center. The shooter moved through the parking lot from the Costco on the west end shooting rounds an AR-15-style rifle.”
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The gunman then entered the Safeway grocery store and shot a customer, 84-year-old Glenn Edward Bennett.
Donald Ray Surrett Jr, 66, attacked the gunman in the produce section of the store and attempted to disarm him. He was, however, shot dead.
“Mr. Surrett engaged with the shooter, attempted to disarm him and may very well have prevented further deaths. Mr. Surrett acted heroically turning this terrible event,” police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.
The shooter then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Debora Jean Surrett, the ex-wife of Donald Ray Surrett Jr., told The Associated Press he served in the Army for 20 years as a combat engineer. He wasn’t deployed to active combat zones.
They were married from 1975 to 1995 during which they were stationed in Germany three times. They also lived on military bases across the United States.
