Grants Pass, Ore. – The Josephine County District Attorney has concluded the review of an officer-involved shooting on the Grants Pass Parkways that ended with the death of Shawn Pappe.
The D.A. said the investigation revealed that on October 13th around 7:30 a.m., Pappe was speeding through the Walmart parking lot in his silver Chevrolet Tahoe when he crashed into five parked vehicles. He then fled the scene of the crashes, striking one of the crashed vehicles a second time in the process.
Officials said Pappe then drove over landscaping and a public sidewalk onto the Grants Pass Parkway (Highway 99). He drove erratically through busy morning traffic before rear-ending another vehicle between Beacon Street and F Street. Pappe continued on, narrowly missing two vehicles before he struck a guardrail. The final collision disabled the vehicle.
According to the Josephine County D.A., Grants Pass Police Lieutenant Todd Moran was the first to arrive at the scene—Moran is a trained critical incident negotiator. Moran approached Pappe’s vehicle and tried to make contact with him while more officers arrived at the scene. The windows were tinted, obscuring the officer’s view. The front passenger window was broken by police so they could see inside, where they found Pappe with a large “tactical style” knife stabbing the interior of the vehicle. He reportedly made statements about needing his “meth”. Pappe did not respond to officers and appeared to be under the influence of a stimulant.
The office of the district attorney said Lieutenant Moran tried to talk Pappe into dropping the knife for approximately 20 minutes. Eventually, Pappe dove head-first, knife in hand, through the broken out window. While he was on the ground, he was hit with bean-bag rounds and tased. He refused to drop the knife, stood up, and advanced toward the officers. Detective Ryan Brown, Detective John Lohrfink, Corporal Michael Miner, and Officer Scott Williams fired shots at Pappe. He was struck by multiple rounds and pronounced dead at the scene.
District Attorney Ryan Mulkins determined all officers involved in the incident were justified in using deadly physical force.
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