A man was shot and killed by police early Thursday morning after an hourslong standoff in Lincoln City of the Oregon Coast.
Lincoln City police say they contacted the man about a parking violation Wednesday afternoon — and he began shooting at them. He left the scene and officers called in Oregon State Police for assistance.
OSP dispatched a SWAT K-9 unit that found the man barricaded inside a home on Northwest Jetty Avenue, situated in the northern part of the city. The state police say they were later granted a search warrant to access the residence, where the suspect lived with multiple people.
In a press release, OSP say their negotiators tried multiple times to communicate with the man but he made verbal threats in response. After hours of negotiations, police say the suspect began shooting at police at 2:45 a.m. through windows from inside the house, and a fire broke out in the house “for unknown reasons.”
According to OSP, as the fire spread, the suspect climbed out onto the roof carrying a rifle and refused the police’s commands to drop it. Four members of the OSP SWAT team shot him. He then fell from the roof and died at the scene.
The police hasn’t released the man’s name and other personal information. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident with other agencies including the Lincoln City Police Department, Newport Police Department and OSP.