Deschutes County Jail repaired after rifle shot that landed Sunriver man in same jail as dad hours later

(Update: Nicholas Cooper arraigned on 18-count indictment, father on two counts)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 25-year-old Sunriver man allegedly fired a high-powered rifle shot into the entrance of the Deschutes County Jail Thursday night – just 10 hours after his father was arrested and jailed on charges he sent explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl seeking a job.

“Investigators learned he either wanted to confront cops, and/or break out his father” from jail, Sergeant Jason Wall said Friday night. District Attorney Steve Gunnels said the motive was still under investigation.

Nicholas Ryan Cooper allegedly fired the shot from across U.S. Highway 20, then drove to the adjacent sheriff’s office parking lot and waited to confront deputies for a time before he headed south, back to Sunriver, Sergeant Jason Wall said.

Soon, he allegedly led sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed, at times wrong-way chase on Highway 97 until two spike strips and a pursuit immobilization technique were used to stop and arrest him.

Deputies were dispatched shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday to the report of a man in front of the jail who had fired a shot and was waiting for law enforcement in the parking lot, Sergeant Jason Wall said.

The jail and adjacent sheriff’s office were placed on lockdown, while investigators worked to verify the report and find the suspect, Wall said. He was not found in the front parking lot, and initial searches did not determine if a live round had been fired.

The caller who advised 911 of the initial threat was able to provide more information about the whereabouts of the suspect, later determined to be Nicholas Cooper, the sergeant said.

Wall and Gunnels confirmed to NewsChannel 21 late Friday that Cooper’s father is John Matthew Cooper, 54, of La Pine, who was arrested late Thursday morning on accusations that he was texting sexually explicit and inappropriate messages to a 17-year-old girl looking for a job. The girl told her mother, who contacted authorities, and Bend police officers continued the messaging to Cooper, who believed he was still conversing with the teen.

Authorities investigating the gunshot found Nicholas Cooper’s Jeep Cherokee in the Sunriver Business Park, where he lives, Wall said. He was seen loading items into the vehicle and left, heading toward nearby Highway 97. Plainclothes detectives kept watch on the Jeep until more police showed up for a planned guns-drawn, "high-risk” traffic stop.

Instead, Cooper sped away once he realized they were trying to pull him over, Wall said. He drove north in the southbound lanes of Highway 97 for a short distance from the Sunriver exit before crossing over the median and heading north in the proper lanes for a time, according to Wall.

Law enforcement did not pursue the driver as he drove the wrong way on the highway. Wall said he eventually crossed back over in the southbound lanes while heading north from Lava Butte, then turned around near the High Desert Museum entrance and sped south in the proper lanes again, at which point law enforcement re-engaged in the pursuit.

They were able to successfully “spike” the Jeep’s tires twice as the pursuit continued south toward the Cottonwood Road exit, Wall said. Law enforcement closed northbound traffic south of the Sunriver exit and southbound traffic north of the museum “out of an abundance of caution for other drivers on the highway,” Wall said in a news release.

Eventually, a sheriff’s deputy was able to immobilize the vehicle with a Pursuit Immobilization Technique (known as the “PIT maneuver) at the bottom of the off-ramp to Cottonwood Road, Wall said. Cooper was taken into custody without further incident.

An investigation and interview with Cooper determined he drove into the parking lot across Highway 20 from the jail and sheriff’s office and fired a single round from a high-powered rifle into the jail’s front entrance, Wall said. He then drove the Jeep into the sheriff’s office overflow parking lot “and waited to be confronted by law enforcement,” before leaving and returning to Sunriver.

Once there, he allegedly loaded three guns, a ballistic vest that did not contain ballistic plates, “and a tremendous amount of ammunition into the Cherokee,” Wall wrote. “It is the believe of investigators that … Cooper had intentions of forcing a confrontation with law enforcement.”

Investigators also found the damage to the jail’s administrative entrance, as the round penetrated the exterior wall and came to rest in the interior cinder block wall in the foyer, Wall said. No sheriff’s employees or civil staff were present in the area.  

Nicholas Cooper was arraigned Friday, March 3 on an 11-count initial charging document, including two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of unlawful discharge or attempt to discharge a weapon, menacing, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, reckless driving and five counts of recklessly endangering another person. Judge Wells Ashby set his bail at $500,000.

A grand jury indicted Cooper Wednesday on a total of 18 counts, including attempted premeditated murder of a police officer with a firearm and shooting or across a highway. He was arraigned Friday on that indictment and a plea hearing was set for April 3.

Cooper’s father also was arraigned Friday, March 3, at the same time and in the same courtroom, before Circuit Judge Wells Ashby, on the DA’s initial charges of luring a minor and attempted use of a child in a display of sexual conduct. His bail was set at $15,000, jail records showed.

John Cooper also was arraigned Friday on a formal two-count indictment and a plea hearing was set for March 31.