UPDATE: Parts of the Forum shopping center continue to be closed as police investigate the shooting at Safeway Sunday night. Bend Police Department spokesperson Sheila Miller said the closure will likely be throughout the day Monday, as it is a large crime scene  with a lot of evidence to process. 

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A gunman with an AR-15-style rifle opened fire Sunday in a shopping center on Bend’s east side, killing a person outside Safeway, then walking through the grocery store, spraying gunfire down every aisle, Bend Police and a witness said. 

The gunman also killed a person at the rear of the grocery store, said Bend Police spokeswoman Sheila Miller. The gunman is also dead, she said. Police did not say how he died. A shotgun was found near his body. 

The shooting prompted shoppers to reach for their own weapons. Bend Police reported they did not fire any shots. 

 

Miller said the incident began about 7:04 p.m. near Costco. The gunman fired shots into the Big Lots store next door to Safeway before shooting and killing an individual in the entryway to Safeway, Miller said. She said the shooter may have had several weapons in addition to the rifle.

 

One person taken to St. Charles Bend was dead on arrival, and one was reported in good condition, according to Lisa Goodman, spokesperson for St. Charles Health System.  

Molly Taroli, 40, said she was shopping for dinner with her husband in the frozen foods aisle when the shooter came in through the westernmost door of the grocery store and went through every aisle “spraying shots,” she said. Taroli removed her own handgun from her purse and her husband ran out the front door to get his own gun. 

Taroli said she heard a child screaming. She threw her shopping cart in front of her and started running toward the back of the store. Employees were yelling “go, go, go!” and getting shoppers through the stock room and out the back door.    

Dozens of police officers from multiple law enforcement agencies and ambulances were on the scene Sunday. 

Bend Police urged residents to stay clear of the shopping center.

Molly Sanden, a Safeway employee, told The Bulletin that a person walked into the grocery store and opened fire with a gun, firing multiple shots.

Jake Daniels, another Safeway employee, said he heard three shots followed by another six. He said he saw a person running out of the store, pursued by police.

Daniels said after the first shots, he started grabbing people and running out the store doors. 

About a dozen Safeway workers huddled outside a nearby business at the Forum shopping center, clearly shaken.

US. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued a statement Monday calling for federal and state gun control measures.

The Oregonians who went to shop or to work at the Bend shopping center where last night’s mass shooting happened need our thoughts and actions,” Wyden said. “America cannot just shrug its shoulders at another mass shooting with loved ones grieving the loss of family and friends.”

Gov. Kate Brown and the top three candidates for governor in 2022 — Democrat Tina Kotek, Republican Kim Drazan and non-affiliated candidate Betsy Johnson — had not commented as of early Monday. Gun control has been a major theme of Kotek, while Drazan and Johnson have opposed most gun control efforts while serving in the Legislature.

The November ballot also includes Measure 114, the Reduction of Violence Act, which would tighten background checks on weapons purchases and bar the sale of new magazines capable of carrying more than 10 bullets.