The produce manager hailed as a hero after police said he died while attacking a gunman at a Bend Safeway had a criminal record from the 1990s for child sex abuse, complicating his legacy but not halting plans to honor him.
Donald R. Surrett, 66, likely saved others from dying after he ambushed the shooter during a rampage inside the store last Sunday, police said.
Surrett was convicted of sex crimes while he was in the Army, military court records show. Surrett pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal knowledge and two counts of indecent acts involving a minor in October 1994 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison at Fort Leavenworth, according to the records cited by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Oregon State Police listed him as a level-one sex offender, meaning authorities considered him to be of the lowest risk of recidivism, according to a copy of the registry obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
“Mr. Surrett’s background does not change the fact that in this instance, when faced with great peril, he acted heroically in attacking and attempting to disarm an active shooter in his place of work,” said Bend police spokesperson Sheila Miller. “While Mr. Surrett’s past may complicate how people feel about his legacy, his actions in the moment were courageous and for those actions, he deserves praise.”
Fellow veteran Kenneth Hauge said Surrett disclosed having been incarcerated but didn’t like to talk about it. He said the local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars would push ahead with plans for a plaque honoring Surrett.
“People have problems, but he changed his life all around,” Hauge said. “He still put his life on the line.”
Donald Ray Surrett Jr., 66, is shown here in an undated photo.
A spokesperson for Safeway said the company screens all its employees before employment and that Surrett passed a third-party background check. The company said it was unaware of his criminal record.
Surrett had worked for the company in the produce department since 2018, and had lived in La Pine since at least the early 2000s, records show. He had no criminal record in Oregon.
In a statement, Bend police said Surrett tried to disarm 20-year-old gunman Ethan B. Miller.
After killing Surrett, the gunman then killed himself as police officers entered the grocery store. Moments earlier, he had shot Glenn Bennett, 84, at the entrance to the Safeway in the Forum Shopping Center. Police have recovered more than 100 bullet casings at the Safeway, outside the store and at the gunman’s nearby apartment complex.
In a crazed online diary believed to have been written by the shooter, he vowed to kill as many people as possible, claiming he had never found love.
— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane
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