Suspect dead after 3 killed in Yakima convenience store shooting

A tragic day in Yakima ended Tuesday afternoon when the suspect in an early morning triple homicide shot himself in the head, according to police.

Jarid Haddock, 21, was believed to have been the man who shot and killed three people at a Circle K convenience store in Yakima, which resulted in a daylong search involving SWAT and other area police agencies.

That came to an end about 2:15 p.m., when responding police found him behind Target with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, said Yakima police Chief Matt Murray. He was pronounced dead around 3:15 p.m. after receiving medical attention.

“And we don’t know how he got to this area,” Murray said.

Here’s what police said they do know:

• Haddock was in the Target parking lot when he asked a woman to use her phone. The woman overheard Haddock tell his mother in the call that he had killed people that morning, Murray said.
• The woman then called 911. She reported Haddock had been pacing through the parking lot, Murray said.
• Arriving police found him behind the store at 12 N. Fair Ave. with a gunshot wound and medics tried to revive him. He later died.
• Haddock had a handgun and a lot of ammunition with him when police found him, Murray said.

After reviewing surveillance video and talking to witnesses, police are still puzzled by what led up to the morning killings, Murray said.

“He doesn’t get any money, he doesn’t try to take anything,” Murray said in an interview.

Three killed early Tuesday

The carnage began about 3 a.m. at 18th Street and Nob Hill Boulevard, when the suspect pulled up to the Arco AM/PM mini-mart and attempted to enter. The door was locked.

He then crossed the street to Circle K.

“He opens the door and starts shooting these people who are getting food,” Murray said.

The store clerk was in the back while the shooting occurred. He stayed there and called 911, according to a probable cause affidavit supporting the suspect’s arrest on charges of first-degree murder in the incident.

The suspect then stepped outside and shot and killed someone in a sport utility vehicle in the parking lot, Murray said.

The suspect then went across the street to his own vehicle – which had his keys locked inside – and shot the window out, entered and drove away, Murray said.

Earlier assumptions that the suspect shot someone and stole their car were false, Murray said.

Officers found a man in the Chevrolet Tahoe’s driver’s seat, identified in court documents as Jeffrey Howlett, 54, with multiple gunshot wounds.

Officers attempted first aid on Howlett, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Other officers found two people in the store who had been shot to death, the affidavit said. Court documents identified them as Nikki Godfrey, 40, and Roy Knoeb Jr., 65.

SWAT team across town

Around 7:10 a.m., a 911 caller said a family member was involved in the shooting, the affidavit said. Another person, identified as Haddock’s mother, got on the phone and said her son was involved, and that his Chrysler Sebring was in the driveway with its driver’s side window shot out, the affidavit said.

She said she last saw her son at 1 a.m. when she said good night, the affidavit said, and that around 3:15 a.m. she got a text message from him saying he had locked himself out of his car at the Arco, the affidavit said. She was driving toward the Arco on East Nob Hill Boulevard when her husband called and said her son’s car was in the driveway, the affidavit said.

After returning home, she called her son’s name and, not hearing a response, left the house and then learned about the shootings, the affidavit said.

She identified her son from the surveillance video from Circle K and said he was a meth user for three years and that his habit had gotten worse in the past month, the affidavit said. She said he was acting “crazy” and had a black handgun and two long guns, including an AK-47-style rifle.

Yakima SWAT went to the house in the 3400 block of West Birchfield Road around 9 a.m. and surrounded it, using a loudspeaker multiple times to call Haddock out, and even set off “flash-bang” grenades.

Murray said police weren’t sure the suspect was inside. Police plan to search the residence after obtaining a search warrant, Murray said.

Court records show that Haddock completed a felony diversion in 2021 for charges of possessing a stolen motor vehicle and theft of a motor vehicle.

Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice said autopsies will be performed on the three victims Wednesday and Thursday, and toxicology tests will be conducted on Haddock’s blood.

Nob Hill scene

The Circle K where the shooting took place is one of four at that intersection. The other three are an ARCO, a 76 and a Chevron.

Daniel Bushman, a clerk at the ARCO across the street from the Circle K, said the AM/PM convenience store closed at 2 a.m. the day of the shooting. Though AM/PMs usually operate 24 hours per day, Bushman said the store’s owner started closing between 2 and 4 a.m. after a firearms-related incident at another ARCO in Yakima.

Bushman wasn’t there when Tuesday’s shooting took place, and his store delayed opening until 9 a.m.

The owner of the Chevron facing the Circle K, Sukant Khullar, said his son opened the store at around 4 a.m., minutes after the shooting happened. The store closed quickly and did not open again until around 10 a.m., Khullar said.

The Yakima Police Department stopped by to take a look at video footage from the store’s security camera, Khullar said.

“It’s a gas station; we know these kinds of things can happen here,” he said. “It’s just reality.”