Suspect in Yakima mass shooting: ‘I killed those people,’ later killed himself
Jan 24, 2023, 9:55 PM | Updated: Jan 27, 2023, 9:50 am
Yakima Police closed an investigation of an attack on a local man after the suspect died of an overdose. (Photo courtesy of Yakima Police)
(Photo courtesy of Yakima Police)
The suspect in the Yakima convenience store shootings has taken his own life, according to Yakima Police.
“The threat was never really gone,” Police Chief Matt Murray said in an afternoon news conference. When police found the suspect, he was armed.
The suspect apparently shot and killed three people at a Circle K convenience store near Nob Hill Blvd between 16th and 18th Streets in Yakima around 3:30 a.m. According to police, he then shot out the window of the car he was using because he had locked his keys inside. He fled in the car.
Initially, officers believed there may have been another shooting victim in the parking lot of an ampm/Arco across the street, where the gunman had fired into a vehicle, but later said new information indicated there may not be a fourth victim.
Police identified the man with surveillance video.
At 9:17 a.m., Yakima police said the presumed homicide suspect is Jarid Haddock, a 21-year-old Yakima County man who was considered armed and dangerous.
Murray said the shooting appeared to be random and there was no apparent conflict before the man walked into the convenience store and started shooting.
After some confusion over the location of the suspect, police found Haddock at the local Target store. Police had been alerted to the suspect’s location after he borrowed a woman’s phone. Police say the woman believed Haddock called his mother and told her, “I killed those people.”
At 2:16 p.m, officers received a 911 call from a woman that said the suspect had used her phone. The 911 caller said the suspect said he was going to kill himself. The woman said the suspect was near a Pizza Hut, next door to a Target in Yakima.
When police found Haddock, he reportedly had a gun and shot himself in the head. After medics worked to revive him, he died at the scene.
Murray said police did not know of a motive for the shootings and they did not know if Haddock knew any of the victims.
He said the investigation is beginning to see if they could determine what led the suspect to reportedly shoot people at the Circle K.
