A Marion County Grand Jury concluded July 1 that the June 15 shooting of a suspect by a Mount Angel police officer was justified given the circumstances. The person shot, Lloyd Schafer, was treated for gunshot wounds and released from the hospital after two days.
On the afternoon of June 15, Officer Steven McDonough attempted to stop a vehicle driven by Schafer for traffic violations. When Schafer failed to stop, and after his vehicle struck Officer McDonough’s patrol car, Officer Jeff Charpilloz of the Mount Angel Police Department also began trying to stop Schafer’s vehicle. Eventually Schafer drove around a fence at the dead end of south Sheridan Street and his vehicle became stuck. As the two officers attempted to perform a felony stop, giving Schafer and his passenger commands, Schafer and his passenger ran into long grass near their vehicle.
Officer McDonough was pursuing Schafer on foot when the suspect suddenly stopped, turned, and ran toward the officer with his hands in an aggressive posture. Schafer was looking at the gun McDonough was holding in his left hand as he lunged towards the officer, according to the official press release. Officer McDonough shot Schafer when he failed to comply with commands and ran directly at him, putting the officer in fear for his safety. Schafer was reportedly 8-10 feet away from the officer when he was shot in the side of the abdomen and in the arm. After Schafer fell to the ground he continued to move around, at which time Officer McDonough deployed his tazer for one 5 second cycle. Following the tazer, Schafer said he was “done“ and the officers immediately called for medics. Schafer was taken to OHSU where he was interviewed regarding the incident a few hours later. The Marion County Homicide Assault Response Team was brought in and conducted the investigation into the officer involved use of force pursuant to Senate Bill 111.
The Marion County Grand Jury heard from witnesses, listened to Schafer’s entire recorded interview, reviewed medical records, photographs and diagrams of the scene and evidence collection. Because Schafer may face criminal charges , the district attorney’s office did not authorize release of reports until after those charges have been resolved.
