1 Person Is Killed in Grocery Store Shooting at Richland Fred Meyer

One person was killed and another person was injured in a shooting at a grocery store in Richland, Wash., on Monday morning, the authorities said.

Police officers responded just after 11 a.m. to reports of a shooting inside a Fred Meyer grocery store, Cmdr. Chris Lee of the Richland Police Department told reporters at the scene.

Commander Lee said that the authorities were searching for the gunman, who had fled and had not been found. The police circulated a photograph of a bearded man pushing a shopping cart. The police said they had identified the gunman but did not release his name at a news conference on Monday.

“We’re not sure if he’s on foot or in a vehicle, but he’s still at large,” Commander Lee said.

It was not clear what had led to the shooting or if the gunman had been targeting anyone in particular.

However, he was seen on video having a conversation with a man whom he shot and killed, Commander Lee said. It was unclear if they had known each other.

The other person who was shot, a male employee of the store, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Commander Lee said.

“This is currently an active scene and we ask that individuals avoid the area as the suspect has not been located at this time,” Kenna Ladendorf, a crime prevention specialist with the Richland Police Department, said in an interview.

Agents from the Seattle field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on their way to assist the Richland police with the shooting investigation, the agency said. A SWAT team was also at the scene, Commander Lee said.

At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Brigit Clary, the interim Richland police chief, said all agencies involved had “an organized effort right now in locating the suspect.”

“We feel confident that we’ll locate the suspect sooner than later,” she said.

All of the schools in the Richland School District were on lockdown on Monday afternoon because of the shooting, according to the school district’s website. Richland, a city of about 60,000 residents, is in southeastern Washington.

Fred Meyer, a chain of grocery stores that was founded in Portland, Ore., is owned by the Kroger Company. In a statement, the company said it was “deeply saddened” by the shooting.

“We are cooperating with local law enforcement, who have secured the store and parking lot,” the company said. “The store will remain closed while the police investigation continues, and we have initiated counseling services for our associates.”

It was not clear where in the store the shooting happened. The Fred Meyer location in Richland is massive, with a bank, a garden center, a gas station and several other offerings.

Workers at the store voted last fall to unionize after a contested two-year organizing effort.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, Eric Renner, the president of UFCW 1439, the union that represents the store workers, said that no one should have to worry about their safety at a store.

“Workers in our local grocery stores have experienced many safety concerns over the last two years under COVID,” he said. “This tragic shooting is another shock to all of us.”

The shooting at the Fred Meyer store came after several fatal shootings in American grocery stores in the past year.

Last March, 10 people died after a 21-year-old man opened fire in the aisles of a King Soopers store in Boulder, Colo. The next month, a store manager died and two people were injured in a shooting at a Stop & Shop in West Hempstead, N.Y. In June, a toddler and his grandmother were shopping at a Publix supermarket in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., when they were fatally shot by a 55-year-old man who then killed himself.

Giulia Heyward and Patrick J. Lyons contributed reporting.