Bend PD draw guns in traffic stop after reports of gun in Walmart parking lot; BB gun found

(Update: More information from police)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A report of a male running with a handgun through the Bend Walmart parking lot and pointing it at a car late Wednesday afternoon prompted a guns-drawn traffic stop nearby and diverting of South Highway 97 traffic. A teen told officers it was a BB gun and he was “joking around” with friends.

Police responded shortly before 4 p.m. to the report of the armed male with a handgun in the parking lot on Pinebrook Boulevard, Sergeant R.C. Bigelow said. One caller said the male was running with the gun and pointed it at a blue Subaru station wagon he then entered, with at least one other person inside.

Callers to Deschutes County 911 dispatchers watched as the Subaru prepared to leave the parking lot onto the highway and gave a description, including license plate.

Bend police and sheriff’s deputies conducted a high-risk, guns-draw traffic stop on the Subaru near the intersection of Highway 87 and Badger Road, Bigelow said.

Several police cars were used to block and divert traffic from the southbound highway to limit the risk to the public, he said. Southbound traffic on South Highway 97 was diverted about a half-hour during the investigation.

The car's three occupants were detained and interviewed at the scene, then released – two Bend residents, an 18-year-old male and 19-year-old female, and a 17-year-old juvenile.

One of the 911 callers told an officer they had observed a tan handgun, and officers recovered a tan BB gun-style pistol, similar in size and appearance to a firearm, from the vehicle, Bigelow said. A K-9 team was also deployed to search the vehicle and occupants. Bigelow said several other BB guns also were found in the car.

The BB gun was seized pending charging considerations from the district attorney’s office, the sergeant said. Bend police asked to hear from anyone who witnessed the events in the Walmart parking lot by calling the Deschutes County dispatch non-emergency number at 541-693-6911.