Murder case on hold for accused Richland Fred Meyer gunman
Attorneys are still waiting for a report on the mental health of the man accused of opening fire inside the Richland Fred Meyer in February.
Eastern State Hospital evaluators have examined Aaron Christopher Kelly, and a report was expected to by finished this week, but it was still pending, attorneys said at a Wednesday hearing.
The report is supposed to detail whether Kelly is competent to stand trial and aid in his defense. Attorneys said they hope it will be ready by next week.
Kelly remains at the hospital in Medical Lake more than four months after he allegedly shot and killed an Instacart worker at the store and then critically wounded a Fred Meyer employee.
The legal proceedings against Kelly have been on hold since Feb. 23 when a judge ordered him sent to Eastern State Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Staff at the facility near Spokane finished the evaluation of the 40-year-old suspect about three weeks ago, his attorney Michael Vander Sys has said.
Kelly hasn’t entered a plea to the charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Kelly’s attorneys have fought the lengthy delay, calling it a violation of his due process rights.
They tried to get a court order more than a month ago to get him evaluated sooner at the 317-bed inpatient psychiatric hospital.
The attempt to speed up the process failed after officials said they were dealing with constraints out of the hospital’s control, according to a brief from Lisa Lydon with state Attorney General’s Office The problems included having a large number of staff not working because of COVID-19.
Fred Meyer Shooting
Kelly is accused of walking into the Fred Meyer on Wellsian Way about 11 a.m. on Feb. 7 and then pulling out a gun and shooting Justin Krumbah, an apparent stranger, several times after a brief conversation.
Then he opened fire on Hill near the customer service desk and wandered briefly in the store before leaving about seven minutes later, according to court documents.
The first officers on the scene tried to save Krumbah’s life, but the 38-year-old died at the store.
Mark Hill, 56, was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland after being shot three times.
While there aren’t many details about what Kelly did after leaving the store, Prosecutor Andy Miller previously said Kelly went and emptied his bank account.
He was arrested about 11 hours later driving on Interstate 90 near Sprague in Eastern Washington.
