Fred Meyer shooting suspect’s ex-landlord says he begged for gun to be taken after he tried to poison dogs
A former landlord of the suspected gunman in Monday’s shooting at a Fred Meyer grocery store has claimed that he begged authorities to take away his tenant’s firearm after he tried to poison his dogs.
Bryant Scott wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post, seen by DailyMail.com, that Aaron Christopher Kelly refused to leave the property he rented to him, was “repeatedly attempting to murder my dogs” and waged a campaign of harassment against him and his friends during the pandemic.
Mr Scott said he filed for a restraining order against the 39-year-old and asked a judge to confiscate his weapon - but that both requests were denied.
Court records, obtained by The Independent, show that Mr Scott filed a complaint for unlawful harassment against Mr Kelly in Franklin Franklin County Superior Court in October 2020. Records show that the order was denied.
Now, 16 months on, Mr Kelly has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after he allegedly opened fire inside a Fred Meyer store in Richland, Washington, on Monday.
Richland Police said they were called to the grocery store at around 11am on Monday morning to reports of shots being fired and found two victims suffering gunshot wounds.
Justin Krumbah, a 38-year-old Instacart shopper, died at the scene.
The second victim - a Fred Meyer employee who has not been identified - was rushed to hospital where he was in a critical condition.
Richland Police Commander Chris Lee said that surveillance footage showed the gunman and Mr Krumbah having some sort of heated interaction before the shooting unfolded.
It is not clear if Mr Krumbah and the suspect knew each other prior to the shooting or what was said during the incident.
Police launched a huge manhunt to track down the suspect who fled the scene before officers arrived.
Mr Kelly was arrested later on Monday around 130 miles away along Interstate 90 between Sprague and Spokane later that night.
Richland Police said he will be booked into the Benton County Jail on first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder.
