Fred Meyer murder suspect not competent for trial. Can WA officials force medication?

The gunman accused of shooting two men inside the Richland Fred Meyer store needs mental health treatment before he can be tried for murder.

Court proceedings against Aaron Christopher Kelly, 40, have been on hold since Feb. 23 when a judge ordered him sent to Eastern State Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Hospital evaluators found Kelly was not mentally competent enough to help his attorneys in his defense, his defense attorney Michael Vander Sys told Superior Court Judge David Petersen on Wednesday.

Petersen signed off on an order to keep Kelly at the hospital until he is able to help in his defense.

Kelly remains at the psychiatric hospital in Medical Lake near Spokane but appeared in court Wednesday via a video link.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors are at odds about his medical treatment plan.

Eastern State officials are asking to treat Kelly using medication, a move that his defense attorneys are opposing.

A special hearing will be scheduled, possibly in the next couple weeks, to debate the issue.

No matter what the outcome, Kelly is next expected to appear in court on Sept. 21 to check on his status.

Both Benton County prosecutors and defense attorneys are asking that a specific judge be assigned to handle the case going forward.

Kelly has yet to enter a plea to the charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

And his 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 in-patient psychiatric hospital.

However, the attempt to speed up the process failed after state officials said they were dealing with constraints out of the hospital’s control, according to a brief from Lisa Lydon with Washington state Attorney General’s Office.

One problem was that a large number of employees were not able to work 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, having a brief conversation with an Instacart shopper that he didn’t know and then shooting him.

Justin Krumbah, 38, died in the store.

Kelly then shot store employee Mark Hill, 56, three times near the customer service desk, according to court documents. Hill was hit three times but survived.

Kelly stayed in the store for a few minutes before leaving and eventually heading to his bank to empty his bank account, say prosecutors.

He was arrested about 11 hours later while driving on Interstate 90 near Sprague, southwest of Spokane in Eastern Washington.

Troubled history

Kelly’s former landlord told the Tri-City Herald in February that his roommate terrorized him and his housemates for nearly 1 1/2 years before he could be forcibly evicted.

A lot is not known about Kelly, but Bryant Scott, a former Marine, said it didn’t take long for him to realize that his Airbnb tenant was troubled.

He said the former Texas school teacher’s erratic, secretive and paranoid behavior left him and his other housemates on edge, even fearful.

Eventually Scott said he was forced to sell his house in west Pasco, and Franklin County sheriff’s deputies had to forcibly evict Kelly from the empty home.

This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 5:54 PM.