Man fatally shot by OSP troopers near Sisters identified

Deschutes County District Attorney Patrick Flaherty on Wednesday identified a man killed in a confrontation with Oregon State Police near Sisters last Friday as 34-year-old William Edward Hall of Texas.

However, no other new details have been released regarding the sequence of events as reported Friday, which OSP said began with Hall displaying a gun at a trooper during a traffic stop on Highway 20 near Suttle Lake over a driving complaint.

That led to a chase through Sisters that ended when Hall pulled off the road onto Harrington Loop, east of Sisters, troopers boxed in his car and gunfire erupted.

Hall’s last known home was in Arlington Texas, according to The Bulletin, which said his criminal record included convictions for aggravated assault on a public servant, marijuana possession, burglary from a vehicle, resisting arrest and criminal mischief.

An autopsy was conducted Saturday at the state Medical Examiner’s Office near Portland, but Flaherty has not released any details involving his injuries or cause of death.

Hall, alone in the car, died at the scene, on Harrington Loop Road south of Hwy. 20, OSP said Friday.

“During the contact, the driver pointed a firearm at (the) trooper and then fled eastbound in the vehicle, with troopers in pursuit,” OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings said.

Spike strips were deployed near Sisters in an attempt to stop the car, and it turned south off Highway 20 onto Harrington Loop Road, he said.

An OSP senior trooper used a “tactical vehicle intervention) (TVI) technique, causing the fleeing car to come to a stop between two OSP patrol cars, Hastings said.

“After the vehicle came to a stop, the man again displayed the firearm and two OSP officers fired,” Hastings said in a release late Friday afternoon.

“The adult male driver was found deceased inside the vehicle,” Hastings said. “No officers were injured, and the firearm was recovered at the scene.”

The two officers were placed on paid administrative leave, standard procedure followed officer-involved shootings, Hastings said. Their names have not been released, but they were described as a 42-year-old major and 21-year veteran of OSP, and a 43-year-old senior trooper who has been with the agency for 14 years.

The area of the shooting incident was closed as a multi-agency investigation team began its work. The Bend Police Department is leading the investigation, Hastings said, assisted by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Sisters and Redmond police, and the OSP Criminal Investigations and Forensic Services divisions.

Sisters resident Mike Huitt told NewsChannel 21 he was headed home from Bend and stopped at a roadblock when the pursuit came to a dramatic end, and he was videotaping with his camera, not expecting a flurry of gunshots he recorded.

“We were sitting behind the trooper where they had the spike strips set up,” Huitt said.

“They hit him and spun the car — and immediately, as soon as the car stopped, they got out and started firing. It all happened in a matter of seconds.”

“It was pretty intense,” Huitt said. “I was in law enforcement — what they did was textbook. I was a little surprised that they shot, but understand they have a job to do, if it is a dangerous situation.”

Black Butte Ranch police and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies joined in the pursuit of the car, reported to be a black four-door Chevy with Texas license plates.

It was the second time in less than 24 hours that an Oregon State Police trooper was involved in a traffic stop that turned deadly. In the earlier incident, late Thursday on Interstate 84 near Biggs Junction, the officer suffered a minor injury in an exchange of gunfire and the driver was killed.