Sunriver man who fired rifle shot into Deschutes County Jail where father was being held enters plea deal

Nicholas Cooper faces likely 70-month prison term; prosecutors claim he wanted to shoot deputies

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A 25-year-old Sunriver man admitted in a plea deal entered in court Wednesday that he fired a high-powered rifle shot that hit the Deschutes County Jail in early March, hours after his father was arrested and jailed on charges of luring a minor.

Prosecutors claim Nicholas Ryan Cooper had been considering trying to free his father, although he did not acknowledge that in the plea petition he signed August 4. They also said he called 911, saying "I'm coming for you guys," and later fired the gunshot in hopes law enforcement would come to the jail and he could shoot them.

Cooper eventually fired a shot into the front of the jail from across U.S. Highway 20, then drove to the sheriff’s office parking lot and waited for a time to confront deputies.

In a court filing last month, Deputy DA Brooks McClain laid out the alleged sequence of events, claiming Cooper sat in his vehicle at the sheriff's office, "contemplating trying to break his father out of the jail," and that he "placed a call into 911 dispatch and told them, 'I'm coming for you guys,'" believing that would bring law enforcement to the area he could then shoot.

But "there was no response," the prosecutor said, so he then fired the one round from a parking lot across the highway into the front of the jail, again believing it would draw law enforcement to the scene -- but again seeing no such response, he left and drove home.

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

The rifle shot caused no injuries at the jail, and repairs were made in subsequent days. Cooper was indicted on 18 charges, including attempted premediated murder of a police officer with a gun.

In the plea petition filed Tuesday, Cooper pleaded guilty to felony charges of first-degree attempted assault, fleeing or attempting to elude police and unlawful use of a firearm, as well as three misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person.

While those charges could bring a 20-year prison term and over $500,000 fine, prosecutors agreed during Monday’s settlement conference to recommend a nearly six-year (70-month) prison term. Circuit Judge Raymond Crutchley set sentencing for August 21.

Cooper’s father, John Cooper, 54, of La Pine, had been arrested at his Sunriver business after a 17-year-old girl seeking a job told her mother he’d been sending her sexually explicit messages. An undercover police officer continued the exchanges. John Cooper pleaded guilty the following month to a charge of luring a minor and was sentenced in May to a 30-day jail term and three years’ probation.