A 39-year-old man was taken into custody late Monday following a search for a gunman who allegedly opened fire inside a grocery store in southeast Washington state, killing at least one person and critically injuring an employee, authorities said.
Aaron Christopher Kelly was taken into custody "without incident" Monday evening after being arrested on Interstate 90 between Sprague and the City of Spokane, the Richland Police Department said in a statement late Monday evening.
Kelly's arrest was announced around two hours after police confirmed that he had been identified as the suspect and around 12 hours after the shooting.
Police said Kelly would be transported back to the Tri-Cities and booked into the Benton County Jail on first degree murder and attempted first degree murder charges.
Earlier on Monday, police said a warrant had been issued for Kelly over the fatal shooting of Justin Krumbah, 38, at the Fred Meyer grocery store in Richland, Washington.
In their statement, police had described Kelly as "armed and dangerous."
The shooting was reported at 11:03 a.m. local time (2:03 p.m. ET), and the first officer arrived one minute later, Richland Police Department Cmdr. Chris Lee said. said.
Before opening fire with a handgun, Lee said, the suspect talked to Krumbah. It wasn't clear what the conversation was about or whether they knew each other, he said. A motive in the shooting also wasn't clear.
"We don't know what the cause was," Lee said. We don't know if it was specifically intentional or targeted toward any one person."
Krumbah was pronounced dead at the scene, interim police chief Brigit Clary said during a news conference.
The suspect fled the store, and police said he was believed to be driving a silver 2005 Honda Civic tagged in Washington.
In a statement, Fred Meyer said the company was "deeply saddened" by the shooting and the death, who has not been publicly identified. It offered its "thoughts, prayers and support to all affected individuals and families during this difficult time."
The statement added that the company is cooperating with law enforcement agencies. The store will remain closed while their investigation continues.
The second victim, who was not identified, was undergoing surgery on Monday afternoon and remained in critical condition, Lee said.
The market is a little more than two miles west of the Columbia River and 220 miles east of downtown Portland.
CORRECTION (Feb. 7, 2022, 10:35 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated that the person killed in the shooting was a store employee. A store employee was wounded; the person who was killed, Justin Krumbah, was not an employee.
