La Pine couple recount fateful Bend museum confrontation

Two days after an officer-involved shooting left one man dead, NewsChannel 21 spoke with a La Pine couple who were at Bend’s High Desert Museum Tuesday afternoon and apparently played a pivotal role in convincing an assailant to free his victim.

It was supposed to be a quiet museum visit for Earl and Deborah Joling. The pair were wrapping up their stay when they first heard an unusual altercation between two people.

“Someone small and someone large. We went a little closer to see if there was something we can do to de-escalate it,” Deborah said.

The Jolings said they saw a small woman curled up on the floor, with a large man towering over her, yelling. Deborah said she pulled out her phone to call 911.

“But he said, ‘If you call the cops, I’ll kill her.’ So I put my phone back, and at that point he dragged her down the hallway,” Deborah said.

She said the man, later identified as Nicholas Berger of Bend, had the victim in a choke hold, and she was fighting back.

Deborah said she made sure museum employees were calling police, then followed her husband and two other men down the hallway to try to help the woman.

“I didn’t lose eye contact,” Earl said. “I could tell that he was agitated. I just felt it was very possible if he got her outside, he could kill her.”

His wife added, “We were really afraid to have him take her out of the building, so we confronted him in the exit area.”

They said the assailant told them to get out of the way, or he would kill the woman.

“My husband said, ‘No — I’m not moving until you let her go’ — and he let her go. Then I told her, ‘Run! Run!'” Deborah recalled.

The Jolings said they were worried that the woman had passed out from being in the choke hold, but she got up and ran.

Deborah said she then tried to talk to Berger and help him. She said Berger said he had something more to do here. The Jolings then watched him pull out a knife as he left the museum building.

“He turned and cut his arm with a knife several times,” Deborah said.

It was very bloody, the couple said, and they felt it was best they leave. They went outside left the museum and were outside with other museum patrons that had evacuated the museum.

They said they saw a woman who was very upset, as she had been separated from her kids.

The Jolings then saw an officer going in to the museum with an assault rifle. A few minutes later, they heard three gunshots — the ones fired by an Oregon State Police trooper, at least one of which struck and killed Berger.

NewsChannel 21 reached out to the couple after their children contacted the station about the role they had played.

Given the attacker’s behavior, the Jolings said they were not surprised it ended in gunfire and bloodshed, but they wish Berger could have walked away in handcuffs.

“It wasn’t the quiet day we planned,” Deborah said. “But we were glad we were there, and we were glad we could be helpful.”

Having daughters of their own, the Jolings said they never thought twice about stepping in to help the woman. They said their heart goes out to Berger’s family and the woman as well. They hope she’ll quickly recover from the devastating event.