Brown widows found in Oregon

The types of venomous spiders residing in Oregon have doubled.

State officials confirm that a brown widow spider — usually found in South Africa, Florida and Southern California — has recently been found living in Oregon City, in the northwestern part of the state. It’s not clear how it arrived or if there are more.

Tom Valente of the Oregon Department of Agriculture said there’s no reason to panic, but residents should be cautious.

State officials want residents to search their homes and other areas for brown widows. The spiders are brown and have a distinctive orange hourglass on the underside of their abdomen.

Oregon already has black widow spiders. Bites from either spider can cause fever and muscle spasms. Valente says brown widows are subtropical and that Oregon’s cold weather will likely kill them.

Officer in shooting leaves PSU job

Shawn McKenzie, one of the two Portland State University officers who fatally shot Jason Washington, left the campus public safety force a week ago, a school spokesman said Friday.

McKenzie went to work at another police agency outside of Portland, officials said.

He already applied and interviewed before the shooting of Washington, said his attorney, Christine Mascal.

Once the Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by McKenzie and PSU Officer James Dewey, McKenzie was offered the other job.

PSU spokesman Christopher Broderick and his lawyer did not identify the agency.

The state’s police certification agency’s database hasn’t caught up to his job change and still lists him as employed at PSU. Agencies have 10 business days to report the leaving and hiring of officers.

McKenzie and Officer James Dewey shot Washington, a U.S. postal worker and Navy veteran, in a chaotic scene as Washington tried to break up a fight near a bar just before closing time on June 29.

Washington earlier in the night confiscated a friend’s gun after a night of drinking and had it when he was shot. The encounter marked the first fatal shooting by the university’s police force, which began carrying guns three years ago.

Arrest made in shooting of guard

Authorities arrested a 30-year-old man following the shooting death of a 69-year-old private security guard in Eugene.

Eugene police say officers arrested Thomas William Copeland Friday evening in Harrisburg. He was being held Saturday in the Lane County Jail on a felony murder charge.

Police say Frank Ledgett, of Springfield, was found dead in a parking lot Friday morning. Authorities say Ledgett was working as a security guard on the commercial property before the shooting.