UPDATED: Rochester Man Arrested in Fatal Grand Mound Shooting

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A 59-year-old Rochester man has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder after allegedly shooting and killing a man near the McDonald’s in Grand Mound Tuesday, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. 

Lt. Ray Brady of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office told The Chronicle not long after the incident that the shooting occurred after the victim, whose name and age have not yet been released, was confronted by a group of people while he was panhandling. 

On Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office announced that the suspect in fact arrived alone to confront the alleged victim. 

“We’re in the process of interviewing him and several witnesses,” Brady said of the suspect at about 7 p.m. Tuesday.  

The shooting was first reported at 5:19 p.m.

Brady said he wasn’t yet sure why the man was confronting the panhandlers. 

“That altercation quickly escalated into a physical fight,” said Brady, noting that there were two people panhandling at the location. At some point, a man within the group shot and killed one of the men who had been panhandling. 

The man who was killed was possibly from Texas, Brady said.