Three people were killed early Tuesday in a “random” shooting at a convenience store in Yakima, Washington, and police are searching for a suspect.
The shooting, which is being called random, happened about 3:30 a.m. at a Circle K, Yakima Police Chief Matt Murray said during a news briefing.
“There was no apparent conflict between the parties. The male just walked in and started shooting,” the chief said. “We do have video from security at the store, and we’re collecting other video. There were also eyewitnesses who have given us information.”
Police identified the suspect as Jarid Haddock, 21, of Yakima County and said he is “armed and dangerous.”
Casey Schilperoort, a spokesperson with the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday authorities have located a residence where they believe Haddock is. A SWAT unit with Yakima police is on scene, Schilperoort said at about 10:30 a.m. PT.
Schilperoort was not aware of an arrest. No one with Yakima police could be immediately reached for comment.
Murray said the suspect, who did not disguise himself, first tried to enter a convenience store where the doors were locked and then stepped inside the Circle K where two customers were and began shooting. The suspect also shot someone outside the convenience store, Murray said.
The gunman then went across the street to return to the first gas station and shot into a vehicle police initially thought he was stealing, but now believe is the suspect’s vehicle. There was a person in the vehicle.
Murray did not know if that person was struck by gunfire.
Police later said there may not have been a fourth shooting victim. They attributed the discrepancy to a “rapidly evolving situation.”
The suspect was last seen driving a gray or silver Chrysler 200 headed eastbound on State route 24 toward Moxee, Murray said.
“This is a dangerous person. And it’s random, so there is a danger to the community,” Murray said. “We don’t have a motive. We don’t know why.”
The country has been plagued by a spate of gun violence. On Saturday night, a gunman fatally shot 11 and wounded at least nine more in Monterey Park, California.
Ten hours later, at least 12 people were wounded after gunfire erupted in a Louisiana nightclub, according to authorities, who called it a “targeted attack.”
Two students were fatally shot Monday afternoon at a charter school in Des Moines, Iowa.
In Northern California on Monday, at least seven people were killed and one person was seriously injured in a shooting in Half Moon Bay, a coastal city of roughly 11,000 about 30 miles south of San Francisco.
And one person was killed and seven others were injured in a shooting Monday evening in Oakland, California.
The U.S. has had at least 39 mass shootings in the first 24 days of 2023, according to the Gun Violence archive, a nonprofit that defines a mass shooting as a single incident in which at least four people — other than the shooter — are shot.