2 Killed in Oregon Grocery Store Shooting
Two people were killed and two more wounded when a gunman shot at shoppers in a grocery store in Bend, Oregon, on Sunday. Law enforcement agencies arrived shortly afterwards, where officers found the attacker had died from a gunshot wound.
Facts
- Two people were killed and two more wounded when a gunman shot at shoppers in a grocery store in Bend, Oregon, on Sunday. Law enforcement agencies arrived shortly afterwards, where officers found the attacker had died from a gunshot wound.
- At a press conference, police chief Mike Krantz said the shooter entered the parking lot of the Forum Shopping Center from a residential area behind the stores. The suspect reportedly opened fire in the parking lot with an AR-15 style rifle, though no one was injured there.
- The suspected shooter was identified by police as Bend resident Ethan Miller, 20. The two victims have been identified as Glenn Edward Bennett, 84 - who was shopping at the time - and Donald Ray Surrett Jr., 66, an employee at the store who reportedly attempted to disarm the gunman.
- There are reports that blog entries, appearing to belong to Ethan Miller, described online how he bought a shotgun and an AR-15 with which he hoped to kill over 40 people. Other mass shootings were also referenced by Miller throughout his entries.
- Police said the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found dead "in close proximity" to an AR-15-style weapon and a shotgun.
- Authorities are reportedly working to obtain warrants to search residences and the investigation is still active, according to Krantz.
Sources: New York Times, FOX News, CNN, and Associated Press.
Narratives
- Democratic narrative, as provided by New York Times. Americans deserve protection from gun violence - how many more people have to die before stricter gun control regulations are passed? If the key gun control proposals now being considered in Congress had been put in law sooner, countless lives would have been saved.
- Republican narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Gun control doesn't work. Mass shootings are becoming ever more common in Democrat controlled areas, with Oregon having some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. Rather than placing restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, US legislators should be protecting second amendment rights - only by allowing responsible and regulated gun ownership can lives be protected.
