Bend, Oregon, United States

A Bend Police officer was justified in using deadly force to shoot an armed 18-year-old Bend man who at the same moment used his own gun to take his life during a March 20 encounter after a crash on the Bend Parkway, Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels concluded Friday.

Gunnels issued a 12-page report on the use of deadly force that laid out the sequence of events that night and concluded that while Bend Police Officer Wesley Murphy “acted lawfully in self-defense and defense of others” when he shot Gabriel Platz, the young man “died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

In the conclusion of his report, Gunnels wrote, “Officer Murphy's use of deadly force was reasonable to defend Officer (Cody) Lyter and to defend bystanders from Mr. Platz's firearm as it was being grabbed, manipulated and brought up into a shooting position (all despite multiple warnings to not grab the gun and to drop it) prior to Mr. Platz shooting himself,” Gunnels wrote in the conclusion of his report.

“Officer Murphy would have been legally justified in shooting Mr. Platz from the time it became clear Mr. Platz had grabbed the gun from the floorboard of the vehicle after having been told multiple times not to do so,” the DA said.

While Lyter also “would have been justified” in shooting Platz for the same reason, he instead “reached into the vehicle to close distance and to take the gun away or prevent it from being used,” Gunnels wrote. “That act required a great deal of courage, and it is extraordinarily fortunate that Officer Lyter was not struck by any of the three rounds fired during this incident.”

A Bend Parkway motorist reported the crash on the northbound parkway at 8:17 p.m. on March 20, involving a Lincoln Towncar that was estimated to have topped speeds of 90 mph, passing vehicles on the shoulder, Gunnels wrote. The witness said the driver smelled of alcohol and took his keys away.

Officers arrived on the scene and saw the driver still inside, also spotting a handgun on the car's floorboard. He ignored repeated direction not to reach for it and the officer-involved shooting ensued, with Platz sustaining a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound as he “was simultaneously shot by police,” an incident captured on both officers' body-warn cameras.

Gunnels told us Friday, "Mr. Platz went to kind of a great effort to grab the firearm off of the floorboard of his car. to bring it up to rack the slide on the handgun, which makes it a deadly weapon at that point, and brought it up to his head."

The DA's report says at various points that the shots were fired "virtually" or "nearly" simultaneously. Asked about that, Gunnels told NewsChannel 21 Friday: "I believe the officer's first shot was simultaneous with Mr. Platz's shot. I've reviewed the footage many, many times, and it is impossible for me to hear or see a time difference, even when watching in very slow motion with sound."

The report said that Lyter only drew his gun after the three shots were fired and as he moved away from the car.

In his conclusion, Gunnels stated, “Hindsight allows us to recognize that Mr. Platz acted with an intent to end his own life, but the officers who were charged with protecting the public at that moment did not have the benefit of hindsight.'

“They had a duty to act within seconds to end the threat that they reasonably perceived, and they did so,” the DA wrote. "They did not have the ability to wait and see what would happen.”

“These events represent a tragedy for those affected by them, including Gabriel Platz and his family,” he concluded. “The involved officers carry the emotional burden of these events, as well as do witnesses.”

https://ktvz.com/news/crime-courts/2024/04/05/deschutes-da-gunnels-finds-bend-police-officer-was-justified-in-shooting-armed-driver-18-who-took-his-own-life/