An armed man was arrested Thursday afternoon after attempting to steal from a Kohl’s department store in Northeast Portland and then running into a nearby Fred Meyer with a gun, police said. No one was injured.

Police identified the man as Tommy Lee Brown Jr., 34. They said they took a loaded firearm from him when they arrested him.

Brown was booked into the Multnomah County Jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery, first-degree theft and felon in possession of a firearm. He is on supervised pre-trial release for a previous robbery, and has to wear a GPS tracking device, according to Portland police.

Portland police said Brown entered Kohl’s shortly before 1 p.m. and reportedly pulled a handgun when a loss-prevention worker confronted him about stealing merchandise. Officer Carlos Ibarra said Brown ran toward the Fred Meyer next door and was confronted by police officers at the door. Ibarra said that when Brown entered the store, officers warned him that if he reached for his weapon, they might shoot.

Customers and employees of Fred Meyer were told to evacuate the building, as members of the Portland police Special Emergency Reaction Team and crisis negotiators swarmed to the grocery store in the Gateway Shopping Center. Ibarra said several customers were waiting to get back in, as some had left keys or purses in shopping carts in the store in their rush to evacuate.

As they waited on the sidewalk outside the store, employees said they didn’t know much about what had happened.

“I don’t think we’re getting back in there any time soon,” said T.A. Barnhardt, who had been working in the frozen foods department. Barnhardt said he and the colleagues he had spoken to didn’t see or hear any commotion before being told to leave the store.

Several nearby businesses went into lockdown during the incident.

Several TriMet bus lines were affected. Brown was taken into police custody shortly after 4 p.m.

UPDATE: For lines 22, 23, 24, and 87 trips departing Gateway TC, no service between Glisan & 99th and 1200 Block NE 102nd due to blocking police activity. — TriMet Service Alerts (@trimetalerts) June 6, 2019

— Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

Everton Bailey Jr. contributed to this story.