ASafeway worker in Bend, Oregon attacked a gunman shooting up the store and may have saved lives before the killer fatally shot him, authorities said Monday 

The gunman killed two people but the carnage may have been worse had the employee not accosted the gunman in an attempt to disarm him in the produce section of the store, police said at a news conference.

The 66-year-old employee, identified as Donald Ray Surrett Jr., of Bend, was hailed as a hero by police. Surrett and a customer, 84-year-old Glenn Edward Bennett, also of Bend, were killed Sunday evening. Two others were injured.

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“Mr. Surrett engaged with the shooter, attempted to disarm him and may very well have prevented further deaths. Mr. Surrett acted heroically turning this terrible event,” Bend Police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said at a news conference as she struggled against tears.

The deadly shooting was one of three in the U.S. over the weekend.

Police identified the Oregon gunman as 20-year-old Ethan Blair Miller, who died by suicide in the shooting, police said. Investigators are still trying to determine a motive.

On Sunday night, Miller fired shots inside a central Oregon grocery store about 160 miles southeast of Portland, killing two people –  a customer and an employee – and injuring two others.

Meanwhile, three other shootings across the U.S. left eight people dead:

• In Houston: Shortly after midnight Sunday, a man set an apartment building on fire man and shot five residents who were fleeing the blaze. Three people died, and the gunman was fatally shot by police.
• In Detroit: Four people were shot hours later by a man police believe to have randomly targeted victims over a 2 ½-hour period. Three people died; a suspect was arrested.
• In Phoenix: A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed two people and injured five others, including two police officers, in what investigators believed to be a random attack Sunday night.

Here’s what we know about the fatal shootings.

What do we know about the Safeway shooter?

Bend Police chief Mike Krantz said police immediately entered Safeway as shots were being fired. Police not fire their weapons at the scene, he said. 

Officers found the shooter dead near an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun. Police did not say how the gunman died, and he has not been identified.

A search of the gunman's vehicle found three Molotov cocktails, a sawed-off shotgun, additional ammunition and "digital devices," according to police. He had no criminal history in the area and it's unclear how he obtained the firearms.

Statements from the shooter led police to request the Oregon State Police bomb squad, who cleared the Safeway and the shooter's apartment, according to authorities.

Police are investigating whether the gunman may have posted online prior to the shooting; they said they had found no evidence of previous threats by the shooter.