Autopsy to be performed today in Bend shooting
Published 12:00 am Monday, November 25, 2013
Details remain scarce in Friday’s officer-involved fatal shooting in northeast Bend.
A Bend Police officer shot and killed a 31-year-old man while responding to a possible burglary-in-progress at a home on Northeast Jackdaw Drive at 10:22 p.m. Friday, according to the Oregon State Police.
Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty said Sunday that an autopsy, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will now be conducted today. He said it’s possible he’ll be able to release more information after that is completed.
Flaherty also said efforts to notify the 31-year-old’s next of kin are still underway. The officer and the man who was shot have not yet been identified. The officer is currently on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure, while the incident is under investigation.
According to an Oregon State Police news release, police responded to the burglary call Friday evening. One officer encountered the man leaving the back of the home, and he “was shot during the encounter with the police officer.”
Bend Police had been at the home earlier in the day to execute a search warrant and recovered four illegal firearms, heroin and what they said is methamphetamine, according to a release. Sharon Ruis, 52, was at the house and taken into custody on an outstanding warrant. She was booked and released after posting bail.
According to the release, the man shot by police did not live at the home. He was taken to St. Charles Bend and pronounced dead.
Bend Police said in a release that they began an investigation Oct. 28 into a series of cargo trailer thefts, heroin dealing and felons in possession of illegal firearms. A stolen trailer was recovered last Wednesday on Northeast First Street near a shop rented by 26-year-old Christopher Edlefsen, and police identified him as a suspect in that theft.
Around 11 a.m. Friday authorities executed search warrants at the home on Jackdaw Drive and at the shop at 1560 N.E. First St., Suite 13. Officers said they recovered a gun, heroin and documents relating to the cargo trailer at the shop, according to the release. Edlefsen and his 22-year-old brother Mitchell Harpole reside at the Jackdaw residence with Ruis, their mother.
Harpole was arrested on suspicion of heroin possession. Edlefsen was arrested on suspicion of four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, as well as suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, unlawful entry to a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance. He is currently in the Deschutes County jail.
Neither Edlefsen or Harpole were at the Jackdaw residence at the time of the officer-involved fatal shooting, police said. It was unclear if Ruis was present at the time of the shooting.