Author: KGW Staff
BEND, Ore. — Three people are dead after a suspect opened fire at a Bend shopping center.
According to Bend Police, a man carrying an assault-style rifle started shooting in the parking lot of the Forum Shopping Center, located off Highway 20 near Northeast 27th Street, around 7 p.m. Sunday night.
In a press briefing late Sunday night, a Bend Police spokesperson said the gunman came from a residential area behind the shopping center. He allegedly started shooting near the Big Lots store, then went into the west entrance of the Safeway.
Bend Police say the suspect shot and killed someone at the front of the grocery store then continued firing through the store, killing an additional person toward the back of the store.
A third person was found dead in the store; police believe that person to be the shooter.
Investigators recovered an AR-15 style assault rifle and a shotgun near the suspect.
Initial reports show that Bend Police officers did not fire any shots at the scene.
It’s not clear how many others were injured.
A spokeswoman with St. Charles Hospital told KTVZ they received two patients just before 8:30 p.m. One was dead on arrival, the second patient was reported to be in good condition.
The hospital was placed on lockout.
Bend police say they investigated reports that there was a second shooter, and additional shooting scenes, but say they’ve found no evidence of any other shootings in the city Sunday night.
Safeway shopper Josh Caba talked with KTVZ about the terrifying shopping experience.
The Bend resident said his wife had stayed in the car, as she was not feeling well, while he went shopping with their four children.
“About 10 minutes later, we started heading to the front. Then we heard I don’t know how many shots out front – six or seven. I immediately turned to my children and said, ‘Run!’ People were screaming, it was a horrifying experience.”
Caba was worried about his wife but, but “by the grace and provision of God,” he said, when he and three of their kids burst through the big black exit doors by the produce department, his wife had driven around back and “was sitting in the car, saying ‘Get in the car! Get in the car!'”
Caba said he went back in and found their fourth child, rushing her out of the store and to the car as well.
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