Bend-area man charged with attempted murder, shooting Redmond-area man in the face, but refuses court appearance
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Bend-area man charged with attempted murder, accused of shooting a Redmond-area man in the face last Monday, surrendered to police in Prineville Thursday and was taken to the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, but he refused to make his first court appearance Friday.
Shooting victim Lowell Edward Templeton, 56, drove himself to the St. Charles Redmond ER after being shot in the face with a .40-caliber handgun, Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels said Friday.
Templeton suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown by Life Flight helicopter to Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. An OHSU representative said Templeton was not listed in the public patient directory, but Gunnels said he's recovering and that “he’s now communicating.”
Suspect Darron Jay Reece, 36, turned himself in to Prineville police on Thursday and also turned in the handgun allegedly used in the crime, Gunnels said.
The district attorney did not provide details on what led to the shooting, and police have not released any information regarding the crime. He also said both men lived in RVs, but the relationship between the two was unclear.
The DA’s initial charging document, filed Friday, lists four felony counts: second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm. It noted Reece was convicted in Deschutes County in 2017 of felony third-degree assault.
Reece was booked into the Bend jail and held without bail pending his planned first court appearance on Friday, by video hookup from the jail.
But when Reece’s turn came, a jail deputy told Circuit Judge Alycia Sykora that Reece refused to come to the room where video appearances take place, saying “he did not want to participate in court, based on the nature of the charges.” A deputy told the judge that Reece “explained to our medical deputy he did not wish to participate, just based on the particular circumstance.”
Deputy District Attorney Andrew Doyle quickly went to inform Gunnels, who came to the courtroom and asked the judge to “make a finding of good cause to extend the time in which Mr. Reece may be arraigned on the DA’s information.”
“The only alternative,” Gunnels said, “would be to forcibly remove him from his current location to take him to court, increasing the risk to him and to jail deputies."
A representative of Atlas Law Group, appointed to represent Reece, declined to comment, “considering the forces at play,” but said they would “get things going on our end.”
Sykora agreed with the DA that it would be “difficult and unwise at this point to order the forcible extraction of Mr. Reece from his jail cell.” She made the finding of good cause as requested and continued the matter, setting his court appearance for Monday afternoon.
