18-year-old arrested in connection with shooting at Carrs grocery store

An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the Saturday-morning shooting at a Carrs Safeway supermarket in West Anchorage that left an employee injured, according to Anchorage Police Department Lt. John McKinnon.

Devon Maurice Brown was charged with two felonies: second-degree assault and misconduct involving weapons for firing a gun at a building, according to online court records. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment.

McKinnon said in an interview Sunday that he could not confirm Brown's specific role in the shooting.

According to police, the shooting happened around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, when few shoppers were in the store on the corner of Minnesota Drive and Northern Lights Boulevard.

A group of young people entered the store and started to trash it, according to police. A statement from police described "a group of unruly teenagers" who were "fighting inside the store; breaking merchandise and even one urinating in the aisles."

A witness, Ken Gutsch, said a male member of the group threw pottery and scattered seed packets and other items on the floor near the entrance, before employees closed and blocked the doors in an effort to keep the male and other members of the group out.

[Witness describes shooting that left Anchorage supermarket worker injured]

Police said in a statement that "when a store employee confronted the group of teenagers to leave, one of the teenagers produced a handgun and shot at the Carrs Safeway employee."

The suspect fired the gun at least twice, hitting the employee in the right thigh and right forearm, Gutsch said.

The employee was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to police.

At the grocery store Sunday afternoon, cars filled the parking lot and shoppers stood in lines at cash registers. There were no obvious signs of the shooting, and it appeared the store had replaced the entrance door's shattered glass.

An employee said he could not comment on the shooting.

Sara Osborne, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Division of Safeway's public relations office, declined to comment Sunday on the condition of the employee, details on the shooting or the store's security.

"It's our policy not to publicly comment during an active criminal investigation," she wrote in an email.

McKinnon said police were able to pull images from the supermarket's surveillance footage Saturday and circulated them among the department. A detective recognized Brown in the images and after an investigation, a warrant was issued for the teenager's arrest, McKinnon said.

Police arrested Brown on Sunday, McKinnon said. He was in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex Sunday afternoon.

Brown is also facing two misdemeanor assault charges in a separate case from December 2016, according to online court records.

McKinnon said he did not have information on the other members of the group that entered the store with Brown early Saturday.