Suspect wanted in east Medford shooting remains at large, police say

Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Medford police scoured an east Medford neighborhood midday Tuesday searching for a suspect in a shooting that sent one person to the hospital and prompted temporary lockdowns at three nearby public schools.

Students at North Medford High School and Lincoln and Kennedy elementary schools were all released at their normal times, but they spent much of the day on secure lockdowns as a precaution following reports of a shooting at the Grandview Gardens apartment complex at 2115 Roberts Road. An armed individual fled the scene, police said.

Medford police called off their perimeter search for a suspect at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, but schools stuck to standard release and bus schedules with enhanced police presence near the schools, according to the school district website.

The shooting reported at the Roberts Road apartment complex at around 10:50 a.m. Tuesday was the third shooting that Medford police have responded to in five days. Medford police said that none of the three shootings are related.

A Friday night shooting in the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot resulted in one victim being taken to the hospital and an 18-year-old suspect arrested on an attempted murder charge. The victim in the Buffalo Wild Wings shooting remains in “serious condition,” Medford police Lt. Geoff Kirkpatrick wrote in an email Monday.

Two men died before dawn Sunday morning in a Charles Point Apartments shooting that Medford police are still investigating.

At the scene of the third shooting in the past week, Kirkpatrick was visibly exasperated. He declined to discuss the wave of recent shootings.

“I’m a little burnt out over the last few days, and I don’t even want to talk about that yet,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’re going to have to at some point.”

Kirkpatrick provided a short statement to members of the media shortly after noon Tuesday between attempts to track down more surveillance footage from neighbors near the Roberts Road apartment complex.

Kirkpatrick said that law enforcement found the single gunshot victim outside his apartment and transported him to a nearby hospital. As of late Tuesday afternoon, Medford police said the victim was in stable condition.

Police put out a surveillance camera still of a person of interest wearing a light-colored sweatshirt, who was seen running eastbound after the shooting. Medford police ask anyone who recognizes the armed individual to call 911 if seen.

Kirkpatrick stopped short of calling the person in the hooded sweatshirt the shooting suspect. “We believe they’re involved,” the lieutenant said.

“We’re searching with dogs and drones trying to find anything in that neighborhood that can help us find that person,” Kirkpatrick said as police moved nearby.

Initially, dispatchers reported through Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon that at least two other suspects were sought, but within hours, Kirkpatrick said that the multi-suspect information was unverified.

A challenge with the latest shooting investigation, Kirkpatrick said, was “really sporadic, differing information during our response.”

The conflicting reports made it difficult for police to determine “who the suspects are, which way they’re heading.”

The manhunt took police to at least one other property. Shortly after noon Tuesday, law enforcement descended on a property at 2339 Roberts Road with K-9s and weapons drawn. Kirkpatrick insisted that despite appearances, the police activity at the residence catty-corner to a North Medford High School entrance was not a police standoff.

“There’s no standoff,” Kirkpatrick said, describing the activity as a routine protocol in a manhunt when a search dog flags an area. The bulk of the police presence largely left the scene, and Roberts Road and North Keene Way Drive were open by 1:30 p.m.

The shooting prompted lockdowns at the three schools, which Medford School District spokeswoman Tyler Myerly described as being done out of an abundance of caution.

“Right now we have all updates going out to families and also directing them to the website for any additional updates,” Myerly said earlier Tuesday. 

She described secure lockdown protocol includes “moving students indoors, out of hallways, locking doors and going about business as usual.”

The district’s website stated: “Please know the police are on campuses, and your student’s safety is our top priority. We will keep you informed.”

Valeri Schneider was down the street when she heard a gunshot and screaming.

“It was a really loud gunshot. I heard someone yelling, ‘Help me! Help me! I’ve been shot,'” Schneider said near the scene Tuesday. “Then he just started screaming loudly.”