Madras chase of Klamath Falls man suspected of energy drink theft from coffee stand ends in arrest at gunpoint

(Update: Suspect named after formal charge filed)

Pursuing officers heard shots fired, called for backup

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Klamath Falls man suspected in the theft of an energy drink from a Madras coffee stand Wednesday afternoon fled pursuing officers who heard shots being fired, prompting a larger response and a guns-drawn arrest.

Police were dispatched around 12:50 p.m. to a theft at the human Bean Coffee kiosk on NE Plum Drive, Police Chief Tim Plummer said.

The first officer on scene saw a man matching the suspect’s description crossing Highway 26 and approached him, but the man ran south on foot as the officer in pursuit called for backup, Plummer said.

Once officers were out of their cars and starting to chase the suspect, “they heard shots being fired,” the police chief said in a news release.

“For their safety and the safety of the surrounding community, they held back until additional law enforcement officers arrived,” Plummer said.

The suspect began heading up a hill above where the officers were staged. More officers arrived within minutes and they began to pursue the suspect. Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies took Christopher Chilton, 50, of Klamath Falls into custody at gunpoint.

Plummer said Chilton was arrested on charges of third-degree escape and misdemeanor theft, and was arraigned Thursday on an initial formal charge of third-degree theft.