Local News

Snapchat Video Leads To Shooting Suspect

BEND, OR -- An 18-year-old is under arrest for allegedly firing a gun from a moving car, just after midnight on New Year’s, near SE 9th and Glenwood. Lt. Clint Burleigh says police received an anonymous tip about a video posted to Snapchat, "You could see him driving down the road and he shot his firearm out the window of the car into the air." 

 

Detectives later identified 18-year-old Victor Chavez; he was taken into custody Wednesday. But, Lt. Burleigh says the New Year’s shooting was only the beginning. "The detectives were able to go with him back to his residence where they found the firearm and two additional firearms; we found some cocaine and some packaging material and other drug paraphernalia in his room. The residence is within a thousand feet of Jewell Elementary School, so that does enhance the charges a little bit. The gun that was used in the Snapchat Video was stolen." That gun was reported stolen from Bend in 2016; a second gun was reported stolen from Sunriver in 2017, and detectives are trying to determine who owns the third.

 

Burleigh says the case highlights two important safety issues: "We have these New Year’s or Fourth of July people just fire guns into the air; the reality is, that bullet going up is going to come down somewhere and hopefully it’s not going to come down and hurt somebody. The other thing is, these guns were stolen out of a residence but I don’t believe they were locked up. Just because a gun is secured in a house doesn’t mean it’s totally secured." He urges gun owners to lock up firearms, even at home.
 
"We’re fortunate that no one was hurt," Burleigh tells KBND News, "The carelessness of the act itself is concerning. I worked New Year’s Eve and in that area, there were a couple of large gatherings in the industrial area." Chavez is charged with Unlawful Use of a Weapon, two counts of Theft by Receiving, and Manufacture, Delivery and Possession of Cocaine within 1000' of a School. He's due in court January 11. 
 

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