This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
Tyler Holloway first dodged bullets from a man who had just killed his friend, then waited almost seven hours for police to come to his rescue in the early morning of Dec. 27, 2024.
Instead, it was one bullet from a barrage of 29 fired by Oregon State Police SWAT team members that pierced his heart and killed the 26-year-old Army veteran as he stepped outside a shop on a remote Five Rivers farm 25 miles east of Yachats.
Now Holloway’s mother, Rhonda Proctor of Vermont, wants the state and Lane County to pay $12.5 million for her son’s death.
Proctor, through attorney Kevin Yolken of Eugene, filed suit in Lane County circuit court this week, seeking damages for the death of her son that even the district attorney last year called “a tragedy for all involved.”
The wrongful death lawsuit is against Oregon State Police, SWAT team leader Jamin VanMeter and three of its members, and the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.
“What should have been a routine response to a call for help became a firing squad,” the lawsuit said. “Law enforcement’s excessive delay and the reckless, secretive approach coordinated by VanMeter caused the death of Tyler Holloway.”
The lawsuit is not a surprise. Proctor had filed a tort claim notice last March saying she intended to sue the agencies over the death of her son.
Yolken told the Lincoln Chronicle that he filed the lawsuit this week after getting and reviewing all the police reports, statements and information gathered by Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa.
The district attorney ruled a year ago that it was not his responsibility to question police tactics leading to the shooting, but whether the three SWAT team members could be criminally liable for Holloway’s death. The three SWAT team members opened fire, Parosa said, after one of them announced “State Police” and a startled Holloway fired a shot in their direction.
“Under the circumstances of this case, they do not,” Parosa wrote last year.
But the 27-page wrongful death lawsuit says state police ignored other information that could have prevented the shootout at 5:35 that morning – including that the man who killed one of Holloway’s friends had fled the farm, that Holloway, three surviving friends and the dead man’s father told officers and dispatchers that the survivors were waiting for police help, and that VanMeter repeatedly made bad tactical decisions instead of simply driving an armored vehicle to the farm’s shop to rescue the group.
“The biggest revelation from all the documents was that there is no question that the shooter was not in the shop or on the property,” Yolken told the Chronicle. “It was clear that the shooter had fled, but the SWAT team never changed its approach.”
A spokesman for Oregon State Police said the agency does not comment on litigation.
The very chaotic night
The shootings involved five people who lived in various buildings on the 120-acre Prindel Creek Farm, which sits deep in the Coast range 15 miles south of Highway 34. They are:
- Holloway, who came to the Oregon coast in 2021 following a three-year enlistment in the Army, where he was a mechanic;
- Chris “Bubba” Clark Jr. , a close friend who worked with Holloway on farms in the area;
- Christine Fuller, who lived at the farm for 24 years, was Clark’s girlfriend and offered Holloway a room in her home;
- Amy Jewett, Holloway’s girlfriend who lived in a separate home on the farm; and
- Everett Fuller, 55, who was married to Christine Fuller but had separated and lived in a house on neighboring property with their two sons.
The farm’s residents used the shop as a hangout because it had a wood stove for cooking and heating, chairs, a pool table and dart board. The four were playing darts and listening to music when Everett Fuller burst into the shop about 10:45 p.m. Dec. 26, 2024 and within a minute shot Clark in the head, killing him. He fired 4-5 more shots around the room, but did not hit anyone.
Christine Fuller and Holloway tackled Everett Fuller, who hit Holloway in the head with the gun and ran off.
The first call from the farm to police dispatchers came from Dannie Jones, who lived in a trailer on the property. The lawsuit said Jones told dispatchers of the shooting, the identities of the shooter and the victim, the location of Clark’s body, and that cell phones did not work at the shop.
“Holloway also called 911 at 10:53 p.m. and reported the shooting,” the lawsuit said. “He gave the address of the farm and told the operator Clark’s body was in the shop, explaining that it was the first building you see as you pull in the driveway. The 911 operators told Holloway and Jones that help from law enforcement was on the way.”
Clark’s father lived five miles north of the shop, so Holloway, Jewett and Christine Fuller drove there to inform him of his son’s death. They all returned to the shop, where Clark Sr. saw his son’s body and then headed back home – only to be handcuffed and put inside a Benton County Sheriff’s patrol car.
Because of its remote location, bad weather and blocked roads, it wasn’t until shortly after midnight that the first state police troopers arrived and stopped a mile north of the farm to wait for reinforcements.
“Officers knew there was a single gunshot wound victim in the shop, and that the shooter — who lived on the property adjacent to the farm — had fled the scene,” the lawsuit said. “His whereabouts were unknown. Law enforcement could have immediately come to the aid of the victims waiting in the shop with their vehicle lights and sirens activated, but they chose not to.”
A gathering of troops
Over the next four hours, dozens of officers from three sheriff’s departments and state police converged on the command post north of the shop.
“Still, officers did not approach the shop,” the lawsuit said. “Instead, they conducted surveillance from a distance, using infrared drones high overhead to avoid announcing or alerting to their presence. The surveillance efforts confirmed what Holloway, Jones, and Clark Sr. had told 911 operators and detectives — the homicide suspect had fled, and the victims were sheltered in the shop waiting for police to arrive.”
Officers at the command post decided they needed the help of a SWAT team and the first of two armored vehicles arrived at 2:30 a.m., according to the suit. SWAT commander VanMeter arrived at 3:40 a.m.
The lawsuit said VanMeter put together a “plan that resembled an offensive paramilitary operation rather than a law enforcement response.”
“He instructed seven SWAT personnel to gear up with night vision and lethal tactical equipment and form an ‘insert team’ to surround the victims in the shop, on foot and in complete darkness,” the lawsuit said. “Defendant VanMeter also orchestrated a vehicle response team that would stage behind the insert team. VanMeter ordered the vehicle team to remain at a distance with headlights off to avoid alerting the ‘suspect’ to law enforcement presence.”
The lawsuit claims that “Engaging in a stealth approach with officers exposed and on foot was unnecessary, tactically unsound, and contrary to generally accepted practices.”
At 4:32 a.m. Holloway exchanged a series of text messages with a 911 operator from inside the shop, repeating the address, that the victim was shot in the head, and that he was at the shop.
At 4:38 a.m., Van Meter ordered the seven-member SWAT insert team to approach the shop on foot and surround it.
“Van Meter could have utilized the two armored Bearcat vehicles to call out over a loudspeaker and approach the shop from a position of complete safety, but he instead ordered the SWAT team to sneak around without any hard cover while the vehicle response team and armored vehicles held back,” the lawsuit said.
The SWAT team reached the shop around 5 a.m. and saw Jones get in a vehicle and drive a short distance to a nearby trailer.
“At 5:07 a.m., Dannie Jones spoke with a Lane County detective,” the lawsuit said. “Jones had just left the shop and returned to his trailer, where he regained cell phone service. When asked about the vehicle movement, Jones explained that it was him driving the vehicle that had just left the shop, and that Everett Fuller had fled after the shooting. Jones reiterated that Holloway, Jewett, and Christine Fuller were still in the shop waiting for police, Everett Fuller was not there, and Holloway had a handgun.”
The lawsuit said after more back-and-forth between Jones, dispatchers and VanMeter, the SWAT commander told the insert team that the suspected killer — Everett Fuller — was not in the shop.
“Despite this new information, defendants maintained their stealth approach tailored for a hostile encounter,” the lawsuit said. “Nearly 30 minutes after Jones spoke with officers, the defendants had still not attempted to communicate with the victims or otherwise alert to their presence. The defendants remained as they were — surrounding the shop in tactical gear hidden in darkness, despite knowing that the only people present were victims anxiously awaiting police contact.”
At 5:35 a.m., the lawsuit said, Holloway left the shop to go outside and refill a water bottle “oblivious to the SWAT team surrounding him.”
The lawsuit said three of the SWAT members saw and identified Holloway but that one member using his night vision equipment saw that Holloway was carrying what looked like a handgun.
“As Holloway was returning to the shop and nearing the doorway, one of the officers made a noise from the darkness, spooking Holloway,” the lawsuit said. “Predictably, Holloway turned around with his gun raised and swore, clearly indicating he believed Everett Fuller had returned to kill him.”
The district attorney’s report said Holloway fired the first shot after he was startled. The lawsuit does not get into that, but only that’s when the three SWAT officers opened fire.
Fuller, in the meantime, had made his way overnight to Eugene, hired a lawyer and the next day surrendered to police. He’s awaiting trial for second-degree murder.
Lawsuit’s allegations
In its first claim for relief, the lawsuit says state police and VanMeter were negligent by:
- Directing a tactical team equipped for armed engagement to covertly approach the shop without information indicating the presence of an armed suspect;
- Directing a tactical team to “unreasonably place themselves in a position of danger by moving covertly on foot without using available cover, including but not limited to the nearby armored vehicle;”
- Failing to notify the victims of their presence by loudspeaker, vehicle lights and sirens, or other means of communication; and
- Unreasonably delaying contact and intervention with Holloway and the other victims in response to a homicide.
The second claim for relief, the lawsuit says Oregon State Police, Lane County Sheriff’s Office and three SWAT team members were negligent by:
- Failing to independently evaluate VanMeter’s tactical decisions and orders despite knowing they were unsound;
- Failing to announce law enforcement presence or adequately identify themselves as law enforcement before shooting;
- Placing themselves in a position of danger by moving covertly on foot without using available cover;
- Failing to notify Holloway, Fuller and Jewett of their presence through use of a loudspeaker, vehicle lights and sirens, or other means of communication;
- Failing to immediately announce their presence when Holloway came out of the shop;
- Using deadly force to protect themselves from a threat created by defendants’ own negligent tactical decisions;
- Shooting at Holloway and into the shop instead of remaining or retreating behind cover when they knew they were engaging with a startled victim and not the homicide suspect; and
- Failing to provide prompt medical assistance to Holloway after shooting him.
The lawsuit also claims that state police failed to review VanMeter’s previous work as a SWAT team leader and knew he had a “demonstrated record of unsafe tactical decision-making, poor judgment in use of force situations, and a propensity to escalate encounters, which unreasonably endangered both his fellow officers and the public.”
In a news release, Yolken said VanMeter was one of three state police troopers who shot and killed Sam Mullane of Tenmile in 2012 after the 18-year-old spotted “troopers sneaking around his property in the darkness and attempted to walk away.” And less than two months after Holloway’s death, VanMeter sent a SWAT recruitment email to every state trooper boasting of the OSP’s “regular use of the very same negligent stealth approach that led to the deaths of Holloway and Mullane.”
“Tyler Holloway was 26 years old, and his death was entirely avoidable,” Yolken said in a statement. “Tyler Holloway survived being shot at only to be killed by the help he waited 6 1/2 hours to receive. Sneaking up on unsuspecting victims invites a hostile response, thus creating the very danger that took Tyler’s life. His death was the predictable consequence of prioritizing offensive stealth and surprise over safety. No community should have to live in fear that a call for help may prove deadly.”
Quinton Smith is the editor of Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com