By David Jaques
Roseburg, OR-- At about 3:05 pm, Tuesday June 14, a resident living near the 2300 block of Happy Valley Road in the Green District outside of Roseburg, said they “heard a bunch of yelling, followed by women screaming, and then several gunshots”. They estimated that there were between 10-15 total shots fired. Within minutes there were several law enforcement vehicles racing down Happy Valley Rd.
This wasn’t the first time this local resident observed this behavior from that address. Over the past couple of years, there were numerous occasions where the [unidentified male] neighbor would be blasting away with his guns and yelling from his porch he was going to kill someone.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office wasn’t releasing the name of the shooter or his victim at press time. The shooter is believed to be a male in his thirties. His victim, a nineteen year old female, was reportedly shot four times; once in the sternum, once in each leg, and once in the buttocks. She was transported to Mercy Medical Center, and during transport, according to chatter over Med-Net, was coherent and talking. She was subsequently flown via Air Ambulance to Sacred Heart at Riverbend in Springfield, and is expected to survive.
As law enforcement arrived on the scene, and were attending to the victim, the suspect fired upon them and there was an exchange of gunfire.
The community in the Happy Valley area is very close-knit according to residents there, and sound travels down the valley very readily. On several occasions, a man presumed to be the shooter in this incident could be heard yelling “I’m gonna kill you”. At least on one occasion it was believed he was yelling this at “the kids”.
In recounting the events of today, the neighbor, who requested not to be identified, said they were not initially shocked when hearing the yelling and gunfire earlier today because it was almost commonplace. They said they had placed a call to police dispatch before to report the violence, and it seemed to calm down for some months afterwards, but started up again over time.
At today’s scene there were numerous marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles representing Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police, Winston P.D., and Sutherlin P.D. Several of the men on the scene were dressed in full camo fatigues with tactical gear, carrying military style weapons, and had no visible agency identifiers. It is estimated that more than twenty-five personnel responded.
Another neighboring resident said they initially “heard one shot, and then a couple seconds later 4 more gunshots”. It is unclear whether these were the 4 shots that hit the female victim. This witness said after the police arrived he saw a “dark-haired woman” standing by a nearby semi-trailer at which time he heard four more shots and noted the woman running down the long driveway towards Happy Valley Road and the officers.
The shooting suspect fled the presumed location of the shooting and was reportedly discovered dead several hundred yards away, on the nearby hillside. There was no information at press time as to whether he was shot by law enforcement or took his own life, though a late report from OSP said he died “from an apparent self-inflicted wound”. The Douglas County Major Crimes Team is investigating the shooting with OSP is the lead investigative agency.