1 Person Is Killed in Grocery Store Shooting in Washington State

A sweeping hunt has ended for a suspect who the police say killed one person and critically wounded another in a shooting at a grocery store in Richland, Wash., on Monday.

The suspect, Aaron Christopher Kelly, was arrested on Interstate 90 between Sprague and Spokane, more than 100 miles from the shooting, the Richland Police Department said late Monday in a statement on Facebook.

Mr. Kelly, 39, faces charges of first degree murder and attempted murder, the police said.

Earlier in the evening, during the dragnet, the police shared a photograph of Mr. Kelly, describing him as “armed and dangerous.”

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

At that time, Commander Lee said that the authorities were searching for the gunman, who had fled. The police circulated a photograph of a bearded man pushing a shopping cart.

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

The authorities identified the person killed as Justin Krumbah, 38. The police said that Mr. Kelly and Mr. Krumbah could be seen on video having a conversation before the shooting. It was unclear if they had known each other.

The surviving victim, a male employee of the store whose name was not shared by the police, was in critical condition at an area hospital, the authorities said.

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.

All schools in the Richland School District were on lockdown on Monday afternoon because of the shooting, according to the education authority’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 large, 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 U.F.C.W. 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.

In 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.

Derrick Bryson Taylor, Giulia Heyward and Patrick J. Lyons contributed reporting.