Good Guy with a Gun #30: Shady Cove, OR
Original incident: November 21, 2023. When your next-door neighbor is a stalker with a history of mental illness, you need to be ready for anything.
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This isn’t your stereotypical stalker-story. For one thing, when I hear “temporary stalking order” I expect that there’s an ex involved, and that’s not the case here. For another, this stalker wasn’t exactly jealous per se.
Gordon Wilson, 51, had lived with his father next door to a woman, Michelle, and her boyfriend, Jason, for years. (Michelle and Jason apparently shared a house with another couple.) While his father was alive, there were apparently no problems, but after he died, Wilson began to think that Michelle was in danger.
He started to make repeated and unwanted contact with her.
Once, he falsely reported that someone was screaming in the residence.
Another time, he falsely reported that someone was injured there.
The last straw? He trespassed into their backyard.
After that, Michelle got a temporary stalking order against Wilson on September 21 and made it permanent on October 23. But you know what they say about orders of protection: They’re just pieces of paper.
On November 21, at two o’clock in the morning, Wilson shattered the glass in their front door. The other couple stayed in their bedroom and locked the door. Michelle and Jason were in the master bedroom; Jason armed himself and stepped into the hallway.
Wilson was visible, down the hall in the kitchen only about 7-10 feet away. He looked at Jason, acknowledged the gun, and said, “You better do it or you better pull the trigger.” Then he charged.
Jason pulled the trigger eight times, continuing to fire until Wilson collapsed.
Someone called 911. The police arrived and tried to provide medical assistance, to no avail.
During the course of their investigation, the police reviewed video surveillance recordings from Michelle and Jason’s house as well as Wilson’s house; they proved that he had continued to watch their residence.
Wilson’s texts revealed that he had tried to contact “a motorcycle organization” to let them know that she was in danger.
A rapid urine drug screen showed that Wilson wasn’t just mentally ill — he also had methamphetamines and amphetamines in his system.
They didn’t recover a weapon from Wilson’s body.
There’s just one piece of good news to come out of this terrifying encounter: On January 23, 2024, the Jackson County DA’s office issued a press release that ended with the line, “In this situation, [Jason] was justified under Oregon law to use deadly physical force.”
Sources
Michelle and Jason are identified with last names in the DA’s report, but out of respect for the couple — who needs another article popping up after two years? — I’ve left them out here.
The Jackson County Sheriff published their initial report and announced the investigation on Facebook. I found the comments interesting.
The January 23, 2024 press release from DA Beth Heckert can be found here in PDF. This is really the canonical source for the story: Everything you need to know is here.
KDRV and KOBI 5 both had an initial article and a follow-up report on the DA’s finding. I always appreciate the follow-through on these stories.
KOBI 5 also had some TV coverage of the DA’s report on their morning show.
KTVL, KPIC 4, KPTV, KCBY, NBC16, KATU 2, Medford Alert News, and Ashland Chronicle all had an initial article.
Rogue Valley Magazine, a local newsletter-style publication, used the initial report about the shooting as the lead story in one of their editions.
Given all of the coverage elsewhere, I expected to see more coverage from the 2A community. Maybe I’m missing some — feel free to send me links. Concealed Nation gave coverage to the initial shooting, prior to the DA’s report.
That thing that never happens, happens every day.
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