Transient arrested after shot fired leaving Bend bar

Police with guns drawn early Tuesday arrested a transient entering Bend’s Walmart who is accused of firing a shot from a handgun minutes earlier as he left a nearby bar.

Officers were dispatched shortly after 2 a.m. to the report of a shot or shots fired at the Mountain’s Edge Sports Bar & Grill on South Highway 97, Sgt. Rob Emerson said.

Officers were told a man had fired a gun while leaving the bar and was last seen walking west toward Goodwill with the gun still in his hand, Emerson said.

Employees of the bar locked the doors and secured the patrons while providing a description of the suspect, he said, adding that there were no reported injuries.

Minutes later, a responding officer found a man matching the suspect’s description walking southbound from Goodwill into the north entrance of Walmart, Emerson said.

Officers “using a high-risk approach” contacted the man, later identified as John Lloyd Smith, 51, and detained him without incident, the sergeant said.

Smith possessed a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun at the time of his arrest, Emerson said. Officers found the spent casing of the shot fired in the bar’s parking lot and the caliber matched. Smith also was positively identified by patrons of the bar.

Emerson said it’s not known why Smith fired the gun and no previous disputes were reported. “Drugs and alcohol were believed to be factors” in the incident, he added.

Smith was taken to the Deschutes County Jail and held on three counts of recklessly endangering and single counts of second-degree disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a weapon. His bail totaled $27,500.