Police cordon off the area around a Circle K convenience store on Nob Hill Boulevard in Yakima
(Picture: AP)Three people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in the US on Tuesday.
The incident happened at the Circle K shop in Yakima, Washington state, around 3.30am local time (11.30am GMT), when a man “just walked in and started shooting”.
Town police chief Matt Murray said responding officers found three people dead. Police closed off roads around the area.
Mr Murray said police have both security camera video and eyewitnesses from the store.
"It appears to be a random situation,” he said during a news conference. “There was no apparent conflict between the parties. The male just walked in and started shooting.”
Police said the suspect, identified as Jarid Haddock, 21, of Yakima County, should be considered armed and dangerous.
He drove away towards the suburban community of Moxee.
The shootings are yet another outbreak of violence in the early weeks of 2023 as the US suffers a wave of mass killings.
“This is a dangerous person and it's random, so there is a danger to the community,” Mr Murray said. “We don't have a motive.”
When officers responded to the shooting, they also found a second shooting scene at another convenience store across the street, said Mr Murray.
Police initially believed that the gunman fired into a nearby car, possibly injuring a person inside before stealing the vehicle and fleeing the scene, but the Yakima Police Department later said that new information suggested there may not have been a fourth victim after all.
“I want to remind everybody that this is really new. It's dynamic, things are changing, we are getting new information constantly,” Mr Murray said.
