2022 Bend, Oregon Shooting

On August 28, 2022, 20-year-old Ethan Blair Miller opened fire at a Safeway grocery store in Bend, Oregon, killing two men, one of whom was an employee, and wounding two other people before committing suicide inside the store.

Shooting

The gunman, 20-year-old Ethan Blair Miller, was captured on Ring Doorbell surveillance leaving his Fox Hollow apartment building at 7:03 pm, armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun. Miller wore a green satchel containing ammunition, a tactical vest and a black shirt with the word HURT in dark red lettering across his chest in reference to the song "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. He then fired three shots into his own vehicle, a 1997 Ford F-250, in the parking lot of the apartment building. Miller is then caught on surveillance walking through the parking lot between an Old Navy and a Costco. He opened fire, hitting stacks of hot tubs, a parked van, and wounding the driver of a moving black Honda Civic with glass and shrapnel as he shot through the passenger-side window.

At 7:05 pm, Miller reached the Forum shopping center parking lot, where he fired into a Big Lots store adjacent to Safeway. Upon reaching the west entrance of the Safeway, he shot Glenn Edward Bennett, an 84-year-old customer and Korean War veteran, five times, striking near his groin, right arm and left thigh. Two other shoppers of the grocery store fled when the shooting started, but later returned to help Bennett, who had been lying on the ground. Bennett later died from his injuries in the hospital.

Miller then moved farther into the store, firing into aisles as he progressed. He is then seen walking over to the meat section where he confronts a hiding person laying on the ground, firing a shot beside him and continuing, leaving the patron unharmed. Miller then continues toward the produce section where he is stabbed by Donald Ray Surrett Jr., a 66-year-old employee who had hidden behind a produce cart in the store after he heard gunshots. As Miller walked past the produce cart, Surrett lunged at him with a produce knife and attempted to disarm him, forcing him to drop his shotgun. However, Miller overpowered Surrett and shot him once with his rifle. He then drops the rifle, picks up the shotgun and shoots Surrett twice, ultimately killing him.

Miller then continued to the produce aisle where he proceeded to sit back against a shelf and, placed the shotgun under him, fired upwards, committing suicide.

After receiving an emergency 911 call, officers entered the grocery store from the front and back. At 7:08 pm, Miller was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The entire event was captured on video footage and a censored version was later released 95 days after the shooting.

In total, Miller fired more than 100 rounds. Law enforcement recovered more than 100 shell casings from the gunman's apartment complex, The Forum shopping center, and the interior of the Safeway. Three molotov cocktails and a sawed-off Remington 870 shotgun were also found in the shooter's truck.

Perpetrator

Ethan Blair Miller (October 31, 2001 – August 28, 2022), a 20-year-old Bend resident, was identified as the gunman. Prior to the shooting, he lived at the nearby Fox Hollow apartment building with his mother and his younger brother. Miller was also a former employee of Safeway. The weapons Miller used in the attack were purchased legally.

Miller wrote a private digital journal starting on June 29 on Wattpad titled "The Downward Spiral of Ethan Miller", which was named after a Nine Inch Nails album dubbed "The Downward Spiral". In this journal, he detailed his plan and motivations for committing a mass shooting. Miller wrote that he wanted to murder people due to his isolation, loneliness, feuds with his family, and frustrations at being unable to find a girlfriend. He also wrote lyrics from The Downward Spiral album and other artists such as Disturbed and KMFDM. He also stated that he wanted to commit a school shooting at his former high school on September 8 and was influenced by the Columbine High School massacre. However, Miller instead chose to open fire on the Safeway because he couldn't wait long enough for the high school to reopen. Miller also posted photos and videos of himself with guns on Instagram and YouTube.

Reactions

Kate Brown, the governor of Oregon, thanked first responders for their quick response to the shooting. She further stated that her heart went out to the victims' families, and that everyone has the right to safety from gun violence. On September 2, Brown, along with police chief Mike Krantz, fire chief Todd Riley, city manager Eric King, and Bend City Council members met privately with officers and other first responders at the Bend Fire Station. Additionally, Brown encouraged Oregonians to vote for Measure 114, a gun control bill, on Oregon's fall ballot.

Senator Ron Wyden said that the Oregonians who were present at the shooting needed our thoughts and prayers, and that the United States can't ignore another mass shooting when there are people grieving over the loss of their friends and family.

The Associated Press noted that the shooting occurred on the same day as unrelated shootings in Phoenix, Detroit, and Houston.

See also

* List of filmed mass shootings
* List of homicides in Oregon
* Crime in Oregon
* Mass shootings in the United States
* Gun violence in the United States
* Workplace violence
* Columbine effect
* 2022 Phoenix shooting, occurred on the same day.

References

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2022 in Oregon
2022 mass shootings in the United States
2022 murders in the United States
Attacks on buildings and structures in 2022
Attacks on buildings and structures in Oregon
August 2022 crimes in the United States
Bend, Oregon
Columbine High School massacre copycat crimes
Deaths by firearm in Oregon
Mass shootings in Oregon
Mass shootings in the United States
Murder–suicides in Oregon
Suicides by firearm in Oregon
Mass shootings involving AR-15–style rifles
Mass shootings involving shotguns
Incidents of violence against men
Violence against men in the United States