A Marion County grand jury on Tuesday found Salem Police Department Cpl. Adam Waite was justified in the May 1 non-fatal shooting of a man suspected of firing at multiple law enforcement vehicles.
Andrew Erling Kjosted, 34, of Woodburn was treated at a nearby hospital and arrested. No officers were injured in any of the shootings.
The same grand jury also indicted Kjosted on 10 charges, including three counts of attempted murder with a firearm and four counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He is currently being held on $1 million bail and will be arraigned May 15, the Marion County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.
Waite was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.
Officers were on the lookout for a white GMC Envoy with no license plates after it had been linked to at least three shootings on April 30.
A traffic camera captured gunfire coming from the SUV at 5 p.m. in downtown Woodburn that night, police said.
Just after 7:30 p.m. a Marion County Sheriff’s Office car was struck by bullets while the officer was patrolling near Lancaster Driver in Salem. When the officer got out to check his car, he saw the white GMC Envoy driving by, police said.
A minute later, two Salem police officers were driving on Silverton Road Northeast in Salem when they heard multiple popping noises. A witness said he saw a man shoot at least twice from the driver’s seat of the SUV, police said.
Police found Kjostad shortly before 6 a.m. the next day on Fisher Road in Salem and tried to arrest him. He ran from officers and drew a firearm, the district attorney’s office said.
That’s when Waite – a SWAT officer who has worked for the Salem Police Department for 15 years – shot Kjostad, police said.
Police and prosecutors did not say whether Kjostad pointed the gun or shot in the direction of officers, but they said they found a .45 caliber handgun lying nearby when he was arrested.
Court records show Kjostad, a registered sex offender who’s been cited twice for failing to report, has been in and out of Marion County jail in the past 15 years for low-level felony convictions related to theft and burglary, as well as for misdemeanor charges like disorderly conduct and interfering with a peace officer.
— Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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