Fugitive shot by OSP trooper NE of Madras improving
An armed Montana fugitive who was shot and critically wounded Friday in a confrontation with an Oregon State Police trooper in the woods northeast of Madras has been identified and has improved to serious condition at a Bend hospital, authorities said Monday.
No local charges have been filed yet against Zande Joshua Barnacascel, 56, who was wanted for violating probation on a burglary conviction, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said late Sunday night. He was listed as a registered sex offender, with police warnings of violent tendencies and an escape risk, he added.
Barnacascel, also known as Joshua Samuel Waddington, is a convicted felon and registered sex offender with no known permanent address, said OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings. He had an outstanding Montana warrant for probation violation on a felony burglary conviction.
OSP and county Search and Rescue volunteers searched a wooded area northeast of Madras for evidence Saturday, one day after the encounter that ended an intensive manhunt.
The fugitive was “shot at least one time” during an encounter with OSP Sgt. Mike Turner, Hastings said Saturday. He was flown by a Life Flight helicopter to St. Charles-Bend, where Hastings said he was in critical condition Saturday after undergoing surgery but had improved to serious condition by Monday.
Around 2:15 p.m. Friday, Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies, assisted by troopers, responded to a reported burglary after a man was seen inside a residence on Fern Lane, west of Highway 97, Hastings said.
A trooper spotted an associated SUV after it left and its driver refused to stop. After about five minutes, the trooper decided to terminate the chase and lost sight of the vehicle on farm property.
The manhunt expanded to include Madras police and a Warm Springs police tracking dog team, said Sheriff Jim Adkins, who also called in a Search and Rescue single-engine plane to help in the search after the man stopped the SUV and ran into the brush.
A Madras officer spotted Barnacascel in the area east of Highway 97, near Darrer Road and Dogwood Lane, about three miles northeast of Madras, Hastings and Adkins said.
Turner, who was unhurt, has been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard protocol in officer-involved shooting investigations, Hastings said, adding that the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office will review the reports on the incident.
Turner, 35, joined OSP in 1999 and is currently assigned to the Patrol Services Division at the Bend Area Command office, Hastings added.
“It was a long pursuit,” the sheriff said., adding that a Madras police officer patrolling the search perimeter spotted the suspect crossing over a hill and the dog got on the track.
