By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
A Lincoln County grand jury has found a Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy justified in using deadly force last month when he shot and killed a 38-year-old Waldport woman after she pointed an AK-47 assault rifle at him.
The jury heard testimony for two days before ruling Friday that Deputy Ben Cloud, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was justified in using deadly force Nov. 10 against Virginia Lee Morris, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who lived in Waldport’s Township 13.
Lincoln County district attorney Jenna Wallace said Tuesday that the grand jury listened to testimony from 11 witnesses, including from the Lincoln City Police Department which led the investigation, reviewed video exhibits, examined photographs, firearms and autopsy conclusions.
It was the third grand jury report for officer-involved shootings in three months in Lincoln County.
The following is a summary of the investigation provided by Wallace.
At approximately 4:50 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, a neighbor called 9-1-1 to report they heard Morris screaming for about 10 minutes inside her home at 1015 S.E. Rolph Court.
At 5:04 p.m., Morris called 9-1-1 and told the dispatcher that her neighbors had been recording her and trying to provoke her. She said that if officers did not respond she would “open fire” in retaliation.
When asked by the dispatcher if she had any weapons, Morris refused to answer. When asked if she would be violent with responding officers, Morris said she would only draw her gun on them if they drew their guns on her. The dispatcher noted that Morris was rambling and becoming more verbally aggressive, according to Wallace’s grand jury report.
A Lincoln County deputy called and spoke with Morris on the phone. Morris admitted consuming alcohol while she celebrated the U.S. Marine Corps birthday. The deputy noted Morris was calm at the beginning of the conversation but became irate as the conversation continued, saying she was “not concerned about shedding blood if she had to,” according to the summary.
At approximately 6:06 p.m., Morris again called 9-1-1 and threatened that if her neighbors did not stop bothering her, a coroner would be needed. She then hung up the phone.
Just after 6:30 p.m., a worker with the Veteran’s Crisis Line called 9-1-1 to report that Morris had contacted them and that she was “homicidal” and saying it was “time for her neighbors to die.” Morris also reportedly told the worker that it was going to be “bloody” and that she was going to enjoy watching them “chomp on concrete,” according to Wallace’s summary
At 7:06 p.m., a worker at the crisis line called 9-1-1 again to say Morris had called back and said she had a loaded AK-47 and would shoot anyone who knocked on her door. The worker also said Morris, who was a frequent caller, seemed intoxicated.
At 7:10 p.m., another resident of the neighborhood called 9-1-1 to report his girlfriend, who lives next door to Morris, told him she heard a single gunshot from inside Morris’ home around 7:05 p.m. At 7:39 p.m., with deputies already enroute, several more calls came into 9-1-1 to report multiple gunshots coming from Morris’ property.
Cloud arrived at 7:46 p.m. and took up an observation post about 30 yards from Morris’ house while awaiting backup.
Wallace’s summary said Morris then came out the front door holding the AK-47. Cloud ordered her to drop the weapon, but according to the summary she did not, instead turning toward the deputy and pointing the rifle at him.
Cloud then fired his rifle until Morris fell to the ground. He fired 13 shots, according to the summary. Cloud and other deputies responding to the call gave first aid to Morris, who had fallen on top of her loaded AK-47. Morris died enroute to the hospital in Newport.
An investigation by YachatsNews the day after the shooting revealed multiple shots had gone through the front window of Morris’ home as well as through the top of the storm door. It also found that the next door neighbor who called 9-1-1 from his job in Newport had seen on his doorbell camera that Morris lifted her AK-47 and taken aim at the deputy.
The state Medical Examiner’s autopsy said Morris had a large wound in the armpit area of her right arm where a large piece of silver-colored metal was removed. The summary provided by Wallace did not say how many times Morris was shot.
The Lincoln County Major Crime Team was activated and conducted the investigation into the use of deadly force. Lincoln City detective Bud Lane led the investigation with help from the sheriff’s office, the Lincoln City, Newport and Corvallis police departments and Oregon State Police.
Wallace’s summary said the investigation showed Morris fired her gun in her home or around her property at least 10 times prior to Cloud’s arrival. No neighbors, bystanders or deputies were injured.
Morris had no prior criminal convictions, according Wallace’s summary.
But Morris was known to have mental-health issues and was familiar to law enforcement. According to sheriff’s office dispatch records requested by YachatsNews, deputies were called to Morris’ home 16 times between January and the night of the shooting. Among the 16, five calls were for welfare checks, four were for reports of an emotionally disturbed person, three for menacing or harassment and once because of a report of an armed person.
Wallace’s summary said the grand jury applied the facts of the case to legal principles dictating circumstances when deadly force can be used. It found that under circumstances known to Cloud, he reasonably determined the use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself and/or other people from the threat of imminent deadly force and that he was justified in his decision, Wallace said.
The jury further found that no reasonable alternatives such as “verbal de-escalation, waiting or using other available techniques or resources was reasonable, safe or feasible to Deputy Cloud before he used deadly physical force.”
Under Oregon law, a district attorney or grand jury may make the final decision as to whether police are justified in their use of deadly force.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
As someone who has had to live next door to a similar situation for a little more than a year and a half I find this account of the incident and the timeline extremely disturbing. Given the history of prior complaints I find it hard to understand why it took two hours and 45 minutes for law enforcement to respond, especially knowing there was a firearm reportedly involved. The response by law enforcement is clearly a little too late. Maybe if they had responded sooner the situation would not have escalated to such a tragic end for both the woman and the deputy. Are we truly that short-handed in our sheriff’s department? Shame on our county commission then for short funding our Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
I do not understand the insanity of this country allowing people to own weapons of war like AK-47s in their homes. Complete overkill for self-defense or anything else. And don’t give me that Second Amendment blather. Tell it to the parents of all the dead school kids around the country.