On a quiet Sunday evening in Bend, Oregon, the routine of late-summer grocery shopping was shattered by sudden and terrifying violence. Donald Ray Surrett, a 66-year-old male employee at the Safeway on the east side of the city, found himself in the midst of a deadly mass shooting on August 28, 2022. The tranquility of the produce section, where he worked, was ripped apart by the sound of gunfire, sending shoppers and his fellow employees scrambling for their lives.
Instead of fleeing, Surrett, a U.S. Army veteran, chose a path of selfless bravery.
The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Ethan Blair Miller, entered the supermarket and began firing an AR-15-style rifle. As chaos erupted, Surrett, with a produce knife as his only weapon, confronted the heavily armed assailant. His actions were a desperate attempt to disarm the shooter and protect the lives of those around him. In the ensuing struggle, Donald Ray Surrett was fatally shot. Another man, 84-year-old Glenn Edward Bennett, was also killed in the attack. The violent rampage ended when the suspect, Ethan Blair Miller, took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the aftermath, law enforcement officials hailed Donald Ray Surrett as a hero. They stated that his courageous intervention likely prevented an even greater loss of life. Investigators confirmed that the suspect acted alone, and with his death at the scene, there were no ensuing arrests in connection with the shooting. The community of Bend was left to mourn the loss of two of its members, with many recognizing the profound courage of a grocery store employee who made the ultimate sacrifice for others.
